I've been feeling stressed. Quite a bit more than usual.
Then things took on a slightly grayish cast. I took that seriously.
I upped my consumption of powerhouse foods, I continued to
exercise. I prioritized sleep. These lifestyle changes have helped.
I visited my doctor for a physical. I am in superior health,
but we are keeping an eye on the stuff I mentioned earlier. He is monitoring
me. I am monitoring myself.
When I am working hard on various things, I work breaks into
my schedule. I drink iced coffee, have a snack, and check out my newsfeed. Then
I get back to work.
On a whim one day, I took a half hour walk outside. That was
my break. This turned out to be an excellent idea. I decided to implement these
walks on a regular basis to see what happens.
These are walks that are not primarily for exercise. That is
a separate activity. These walks are completely different in tenor from walking
to the subway, or running errands. I make sure to take the walks alone. There is no purpose to the walks other than
taking a walk.
I keep track of my time and keep it to the 30 minutes. I was
worried that this would be too big a break if I have so much work to do. This
did not turn out to be the case.
Once I return from my walks I feel refreshed. The fresh air,
the light and change of scenery are a re-boot. I'm then smarter and better at
whatever I'm working on. There’s a big influx of focus.
Another benefit is that I look forward to the walks and use
them as a reward for good, sustained and effective work habits.
One of the things I noticed about this particular spring
here in NYC is that it seems more explosive, riotously colorful and glorious
than ever before. I wondered if the long winter made me just notice or
appreciate the trees and flowers more. I don't think it's that. Jeremy and I think
that the delay in warm temperatures made everything more intense when things
finally bloomed. It isn't just me. He noticed it too.
Here's what it's like for me.
I go outside and the thirty minutes stretches out expansively.
It makes me feel rich with time.
I walk slowly and meander. This is not the usual way I am.
There's a certain liberation to doing that. It seems to slow time down. It feels
like I am out for longer than a half hour.
Since I'm not going anywhere in particular, I stop whenever
I want. I have my iPhone camera with me
and often something will strike my fancy. I've taken a lot of photographs
during these walks.
I am very literal about the time and manage it well. I stay
out for 30 minutes, no more, no less. Once the 30 minutes are up, I feel ready
to go inside again.
Here's what I'm doing. I'm going to keep this up. I'll to
post about my experience once a season. I consider this my spring post.
Since this spring is audaciously, in your face beautiful,
I'm sharing some photographs to accompany this post. I took all of these
pictures during my 30-minute walk today.
Taking a walk is not a miracle mental health intervention.
Optimizing my outlook and resilience is a multi-tiered process. But these 30-minute
walks are a part of my toolbox. A bit of fresh air without an agenda never hurt
anyone.
I was attracted to the filmy delicacy of these two plants.
The cloudy day cast a lovely, even light that brought out their saturated
pastel coloration.
These two photographs make nice new additions to some series
I am working on.
I am exploring the beauty intrinsic in old, dying and decomposing
plants and blooms.
I first photographed these flowers at the beginning of my
walk but was unable to capture anything I liked due to a large bee buzzing
uncomfortably close. At the end of my
walk I was able to spend more uninterrupted time and realized my artistic
vision.
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