Walking

The other day, I walked to school. I know it seems pretty small and insignificant, but it got me thinking. The night before, I had a coffee in the evening. At 9:00 I decided a walk in the cool air might help get some of the energy out. Since I was going alone, I wanted to walk somewhere busy and visible, for my safety. I walked down the road towards the university. I went about halfway, then turned around and came back. When I was almost back home I looked at my cell phone, it had taken 15 minutes. {15 minutes?! Why don't I ever walk to school?!} 


So the next day I felt like walking and I did. It gave me time to think, helped me wake up, meant I wasn't worrying about paying for parking, and helped me sleep better that night. 

I got thinking about habits. While it's easy to think of our habits just as things like biting your nails or playing with your hair, most of the things we do in a day are habits. For me, driving is one of those habits. I got my first car at 16 and have had one ever since. Anytime my car needed work, it was done immediately and I had a car to drive in the meantime, or someone to drive me around. So for the last 7 years, I have made driving a habit. Last week my car stopped working while I was downtown. It had done this before and I knew if I just left it alone for a while, it would work again. So I walked a few blocks to the bookstore. 


And it was so refreshing!


It made me realize how automatic life can be. I go for walks when there is a definite reason or place for it (taking Gavin to the park, etc.), but when do I ever just walk for the sake of walking? When do I walk for me? When Mason drives to walmart and parks way out in the boonies, I just kind of roll my eyes as if it's inconvenient. Why? It's just because I'm used to cars, driving, getting from right where I am to right where I want to be with minimal effort. 

So I've decided to pay a little more attention to my habits. To experiment a little with going against them and seeing how it feels. I don't want to live my life on autopilot. Even if I'm repeating the same routines, I should still be holding the wheel, keeping my eyes open and my awareness on what is happening now.

Are there any areas you would like to be more in touch with in your own day to day routines?