A couple of months ago, I finally got a job where I can walk to work. Every day I walk about 3 miles each way through the beautiful downtown areas of Seattle. I struggled with writing about exactly what I love about walking to work, so I’ve just decided to share a list of ways it has significantly improved my quality of life.
- Wake up (enough to wait a couple more hours for free coffee)
- Remember what I am going to do that day
- Catch up on people I meant to text and forgot, thoughts I meant to think and forgot
- Call my parents
- Get a little workout
- Connect with my body by moving
- Watch flowers bloom and die, sometimes see the sunrise
- See concert posters for events I might be interested in
- Have a spontaneous encounter with a friend, who walks with me for a while
- Run errands, like buying groceries, without making a separate trip
- Go places after work without having to worry about parking
- Buy flowers for my partner on my way home
- Be alone
- Process my feelings
- Avoid sitting in traffic
- Get to know my city and see its daily movements
- Look at the super cute pink elephant car wash sign
- Have at least a couple of dog encounters
- Take a different route or hang out in a coffee shop I’ve never been to
- Pick my partner up from work and walk home with him
- Listen to music
- Engage in some awkward dance-walking
- See random moments in strangers’ lives
- Calm down by spending time doing something interesting but not frustrating
