Note about editing (or lack thereof):
Walking is, as I've said many times in the past, my best way of relaxing and clearing my head. Walking offers something I've never gotten from anything else.
There's the excitement of exploring new towns and cities, and the the relaxation of just wandering. You stop worrying about what time it is or how muck work you have to do. Instead you can get lost in the endless mazes of farmers fields and bustling city streets.
When you walk, you get to become almost intimate with the places you travel through. Unlike on a car or bus, things don't just whiz by. Our slow speeds offer us the chance to absorb everything going on. You have the time to observe every small animal marching along your shared path, and every flower poking up through the cracked sides of roads.
Sometimes though it can get lonely however. With so few people walking outside and instead taking faster and more efficient forms of transportation, the world starts to feel desolate. Everywhere is just another place void of human life, with only the sounds of large soulless metal boxes roaring by.
Thankfully, slightly over one year ago, I found a friend who shared my passion for exploration. Our first walks were rough; I was too fast, and she wasn't used to my long distances. We we on completely opposite ends of the walking spectrum. For a while it seemed as if we would never have a walk where both of us were satisfied*.
Not after too long though we found a rhythm and distance that was just right for both of us. She quickly matched my distances, and I finally slowed down.
Our walks slowly transformed from just two people walking to something not unlike what I had experienced alone. But this time I had someone to share the joy of the walk with. Together we could express our excitement at every minute detail visible only through our walking.
To finally have someone understand the beauty of the world on foot... I felt overjoyed that I wasn't the only one with this insane feeling towards walking. All my other friends never could understand my passion of walking as they had never done it themselves, but my new friend had. She got it.
Our walks have become so much to me. I've gone from my sad and empty walks to something I always can smile at. I'm more thankful than I could ever hope to explain that we can share this special way of observing the world together. Walking has truly brought us together.
Another thing that brought me closer to her was the fact that she didn't doubt my walks. I've told people before that I was gonna walk two towns over and back (47km) over the weekend and none of them had any belief in me. Every one of them just said something to the extent of "you're not capable of going that far that fast".
However, my friend wasn't like that. She never doubted my walks. She even suggested that two town over walk, and she joined me when I did it! Had it not been for her, I might have just stopped walking because of everyone else.
I'm thankful to have met her. In the rare event you, that great friend of mine, see this, thank you for everything. You've brought so much joy into my life and I only hope I can someday bring you that same feeling of happiness you've brought me.
*perhaps this was more my side of things. Either way, there was definitely frustration over our differing walking ways.
Apologies for another walking related post, but this is one that I just had an unshakable desire to write. Also this hasn't been edited at all, for I feel that any editing on my part would ruin the feelings I was trying to capture when first writing this. I have a hard time working on material once I've make it. The creative spark just fizzles out...
Oh and one last thing. This was written on a small screen, so the 3 sentence lines looked much more like paragraphs on my end. Moving this onto a computer I realize that my writing tool was perhaps not the best.
Oh and one last thing. This was written on a small screen, so the 3 sentence lines looked much more like paragraphs on my end. Moving this onto a computer I realize that my writing tool was perhaps not the best.
There's the excitement of exploring new towns and cities, and the the relaxation of just wandering. You stop worrying about what time it is or how muck work you have to do. Instead you can get lost in the endless mazes of farmers fields and bustling city streets.
When you walk, you get to become almost intimate with the places you travel through. Unlike on a car or bus, things don't just whiz by. Our slow speeds offer us the chance to absorb everything going on. You have the time to observe every small animal marching along your shared path, and every flower poking up through the cracked sides of roads.
Sometimes though it can get lonely however. With so few people walking outside and instead taking faster and more efficient forms of transportation, the world starts to feel desolate. Everywhere is just another place void of human life, with only the sounds of large soulless metal boxes roaring by.
Thankfully, slightly over one year ago, I found a friend who shared my passion for exploration. Our first walks were rough; I was too fast, and she wasn't used to my long distances. We we on completely opposite ends of the walking spectrum. For a while it seemed as if we would never have a walk where both of us were satisfied*.
Not after too long though we found a rhythm and distance that was just right for both of us. She quickly matched my distances, and I finally slowed down.
Our walks slowly transformed from just two people walking to something not unlike what I had experienced alone. But this time I had someone to share the joy of the walk with. Together we could express our excitement at every minute detail visible only through our walking.
To finally have someone understand the beauty of the world on foot... I felt overjoyed that I wasn't the only one with this insane feeling towards walking. All my other friends never could understand my passion of walking as they had never done it themselves, but my new friend had. She got it.
Our walks have become so much to me. I've gone from my sad and empty walks to something I always can smile at. I'm more thankful than I could ever hope to explain that we can share this special way of observing the world together. Walking has truly brought us together.
Another thing that brought me closer to her was the fact that she didn't doubt my walks. I've told people before that I was gonna walk two towns over and back (47km) over the weekend and none of them had any belief in me. Every one of them just said something to the extent of "you're not capable of going that far that fast".
However, my friend wasn't like that. She never doubted my walks. She even suggested that two town over walk, and she joined me when I did it! Had it not been for her, I might have just stopped walking because of everyone else.
I'm thankful to have met her. In the rare event you, that great friend of mine, see this, thank you for everything. You've brought so much joy into my life and I only hope I can someday bring you that same feeling of happiness you've brought me.
*perhaps this was more my side of things. Either way, there was definitely frustration over our differing walking ways.
