Today is Take A Walk Outdoors Day and I plan to celebrate by, you guessed it, taking a walk outdoors!
This isn’t a new thing for me, of course, I take a walk outdoors with Khalee most days, but I am making a point to get a good walk in today.
For the record, I also took a walk outdoors on Monday, even though it was just Take A Walk Outdoors Eve. It was a very drizzly day and Khalee was not a fan. She insisted on turning around to head home after just a few minutes but I’m still counting it as a walk outdoors.
Poor Khalee Pup looks so fed up with me. I’m sorry for dragging you out into the drizzle, KP! Image description: Khalee, a light-haired, medium-sized dog is standing in the middle of some snow facing towards the right. She has turned her head towards the camera. Her fur looks damp and she does not seem delighted to be outdoors, despite the mental health benefits.
Note: Are there entirely too many ‘official’ days for ordinary things? Maybe. Do I enjoy choosing to celebrate some of them all the same? Hells, yes! If it adds fun to my life and does no harm? I am IN.
As I was writing this post I did a quick search to see how many of my posts mention walking. It turns out that I have written 668 posts for Fit is a Feminist Issue and at least 192 of them mention walking. That includes posts for Making Space and Go Team so some of them may not be about my own walks but I still find it interesting that there are that many. Also, that 192 doesn’t include some posts that are about walking but that didn’t get picked up by the search function for some reason – like the poem one linked below.
Here are a few of my favourite posts about getting out for a walk:
The health benefits of being outdoors is one of those things that I “know” but I realized I had never actually looked it up before so I did and I found this article from the Canadian Psychological Association that you may want to have a look at:
This image is a link to a 2024 “Psychology Works”Fact Sheet entitled Benefits of Nature Exposure from the Canadian Psychological Association. The credits below are copied directly from the document: This fact sheet has been prepared for the Canadian Psychological Association by Yasmeen Ibrahim, Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Student, and Shannon Johnson, Ph.D., Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University.
Another thing that sprang to mind while I was writing this was the Latin phrase Solvitur Ambulando which means “It is solved by walking.” I don’t speak or read Latin but I came across that phrase years ago and I love how it landed with me.
I took it literally when I first heard it – that walking around can help you figure things out – but I have since found out that it is also about solving complicated abstract problems by taking practical action. It works in all directions, really.
And in confirming the Latin spelling, I came across this delightful ‘sketchplanation’ of the literal interpretation of the phrase by Jono Hey
Image: Jono Hey, Sketchplanations Image description: this image shows three stick figures walking along a hilly field in shades of green. The first one on the left has a cloud made of dark scribbles above their head that indicates some confusion, they are walking towards the right and towards the back of the image. Then we see a later version of the same person walking from the back of the image towards us, and the cloud of confusion is a lighter colour. Finally, we see the same person closest to us on the right, and above their head is a light bulb symbolizing an idea and the light bulb is surrounded by green lines indicating a sort of brightness. Text at the top of the image reads, in Latin, Solvitur Ambulando and (the translation) it is solved by walking. This image is representing the idea that taking action, moving forward, literally or figuratively can help you to organize your thoughts and plans.
And seeing as I am pretending to be all sophisticated by sharing a Latin phrase, I’ll lean into that and share a quote (that is about walking and not about walking) from a poem that I love called [Traveler, your footprints] by Antonio Machado.
Traveler, there is no road;
you make your own path as you walk.
~Antonio Machado
Now, as good as it is to take a walk outdoors and to recommend walking outdoors, I know that that’s not always possible for everyone. and from what I understand, you can get some of the benefits of walking outdoors, of being in nature, and the like from looking at pictures of nature and, I assume, watching videos of people’s nature hikes.
So, in the spirit of focusing on things we can do instead of getting all caught up in the things we can’t do: If you are not able to get out outside today to take a walk (or to propel yourself by whatever means you usually do) then here are a few nature walking videos that I thought you might enjoy watching at home – whether or not you are walking/moving at the same time.
Have fun!
Image Description: The still image for this video shows a path leading forward through a wintery forest scene. the trees on both sides have snow on their branches and all of the undergrowth is laden with snow. There’s also snow on the path leading ahead. In the centre of the image is text reading “Winter Walk” and it is in a handwritten sort of font.
Image Description The still image shows a path through tall green trees on a spring or summer day. The path is clear and flat and has a wooden fence on both sides. Tt’s a sunny day and even though you can’t see the sky you can see the the light from the sun making all of the needles on the trees and the moss and plants in the undergrowth glow in the soft light. The trees are large and we’re mostly just seeing trunks and lower branches. There is a large tree to the left that has fallen so we’re seeing its roots and the tree trunk, which has moss on it, extending towards the left and backwards.
Image description: The still image of this video shows waves lapping on a yellow-brown beach on a sunny day with a bright blue sky. There are evergreens and other trees and some grass on the upper left far above the wet part of the beach. The beach extends forward for a long ways.
Image description: The still image for this video shows a fall scene in the woods with a path that extends into the distance with trees on either side. The path is strewn with orange leaves and some of the tress have orange leaves left on them. There are also a few evergreen trees here and there among the other trees.
Image description: The still image for this video shows a green field with hundreds of dandelion flowers growing in it. In the distance you can see farm houses, and structures for electrical lines, and a strip of blue/grey sky.
I had to include this video because this trail is about 15 minutes from my house and I thought you might enjoy seeing the rocky terrain and the ocean views on this hike. Image description: The still image for this video shows a collection of houses in a variety of colours in a part of St. John’s, NL called The Battery. The streets in this area are narrow and winding so the photo kind of looks like the houses are clustered haphazardly. There is a mix of old, weather-beaten structures and brightly-coloured newly painted houses. There is a rocky area in the foreground of the photo. This photo was taken on a sunny fall day so while the picture is bright.
