Shank’s Mare
August 7, 2007
Have you walkers among us ever wondered why you walk? It used to be that one walked from here to there because of a lack of other transportation. Today, many walk to improve their health, meaning they are worried that they may not live forever. In this blog article, Larry does some musing on the subject and decides that he walks for his mental health.
Riverside Rambles — by Larry Ayers » Shank’s Mare
Some walk or run for their physical health. I’m aware of the benefits to the cardiovascular system, but I walk for my mental health. Staying home you are surrounded by predictability, while on a walk you open yourself to what Thoreau called “the influx of novelty”. Televised entertainment and news are pale, feeble replicas of the experience of actually encountering the unexpected “out in the world”.
To back up his thesis, he points us to an essay by a naturalist, one William Holland.
The demand is forever that exercise, if taken at all, shall have an aim ulterior to itself, in the pursuit of which the upbuilding of the system shall take place as a collateral incident. The popularity of golf is due to the fact that it answers the demand of a great class of persons to be amused while they are being invigorated. It is one of the least objectionable forms, in which the pill of exercise is sugar- coated for consumption by a race which is slowly but surely working itself to death in office, mill and factory. Walking for its own sake is pursued to a far greater extent in England and in Germany than in America. We may well learn to imitate our cousins on the eastern side of the Atlantic in this regard.
Wwhy do you walk? I tend to agree with Larry (well, I do sometimes). My walks are my time to think on God’s workmanship and thank Him for it. Life is good, even though I no longer expect to live forever.
Dave, shuffling down the pike, thinking and praying.
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Yeah, I walk for mental health, emotional well being. Inside if you look up your vision is shackled by nondescript celing. Outside your vision is lifted to the heavens, clouds, stars, birds in flight. Just watching the sky is uplifting. (Trees are another wonder altogether!) Hard not to think of the Creator when the sky is unfurled above you.
Gotta say, though, that my spirit soars in inverse relationship to the temperature. It’s 96 outside, but hot air rises faster, right?