Keeping Yourself Company on Solo Walks

These days, we have had to learn to love spending time with ourselves. As social creatures, this will have been quite difficult for some of us. And we understand. Remember the days when we could only leave our homes for exercise once a day or for essential shopping?

Yeah, we really learnt how to spend time with ourselves and we rediscovered the beauty of walking on our own. We began to love it for its benefits as a form of exercise and for some headspace too. So we’re going to share some tips to help you love it too. How about a little quality time outdoors with yourself?

Walk Mindfully
Find a quiet space to walk in awareness, whether it’s for 10 minutes or 60 minutes. Mindful walking is a fantastic practice for those of us looking for some peace in these unusual times. It’s a way of giving yourself some patience, making space to clear your mind and experience the world around you.

For many of us, mindful walking will feel completely unusual to begin with. We’re not used to being free from distractions and over-stimulation. So take the time to free yourself from the worries of the world by thinking about nothing but your breath and your feet.

Make Your Journey an Adventure
This takes mindful walking and kicks it up a notch! Think of your journey, and every moment of your journey, as an adventure. Another thing that us adults don’t get to do very often is be playful, imaginative and silly. So whether it’s challenging and ambitious or slapstick and funny, bring a little fun to your walk by setting yourself an adventurous goal. You can even give yourself rewards… who knows?

Listen to Some Music
Part of making your journey an adventure is having a great soundtrack behind you! Try listening to some music whether you’re on an epic adventure or when you’re on an easy going walk too. Some walkers will prefer finding their rhythm in a familiar sound, others will want to listen to a brand new album, playlist or genre on their travels. Try walking in rhythm too! A lot of songs will give you a natural one-two step to walk along to. Feel no shame and find your vibe in the great outdoors!

Listen to a Podcast
For those of us who want to be by ourselves, but not really by ourselves, a conversational podcast could be a great walking buddy. Try The Receipts podcast for a chatty no-frills escape from the real world, or Everything is Alive for a laugh from a real life lamppost or The Lonely Hour for some purposeful company. We’ve featured plenty of ideas in our podcast blog here.

Podcasts are fantastic for keeping you company while you ramble along to the park or power walk to work. Ever see people laughing to themselves or gasping dramatically with earphones? They’re probably listening to a podcast.

Think of the Peace and Tranquility
Noisy kids, Zoom meetings and tidying up all the time can be pretty stressful and exhausting. Heading out for a solo walk is a fantastic way to escape. And it’s totally free too.

It doesn’t matter if you’re in a rural or a busy urban area. Do something exclusively for yourself and find some peace in the outdoors.

Try Something Different Every Time
See all of those things we listed? Try them all! Maybe within a month, or maybe within a week. An important part of enjoying walking alone is doing something that excites you. And mixing it up is a great way to do this. Try different routes and discover something new.

COVID-19 has taught us all a lot of things. Including how to embrace change, find patience and how to spend time alone. It’s shown us how important friendships are, and that a video chat with a loved one can literally make our day. But we’ve also been given the chance to learn how to spend time with ourselves. And now more than ever, it’s important to keep up your walking momentum as we work to a future of health and happiness. So go on and take yourself for a walk.