The More I Walk, The Less I Stress

It has been raining heavily in Northern New South Wales for the past week, which has brought much-needed water to the drought-affected dams and extinguished many of the bushfires that have been burning over the past few months.

I love putting on my rain jacket and walking in the rain. I appreciate the temperature, smell and even the sound of rain hitting the hood of my jacket as I walk around most puddles and straight through others. When I get home, I can take off my wet gear, towel off and get back to what I need to do, feeling focussed and refreshed.

After seven solid days of rain, I have encountered a problem: my walking shoes will not dry! Since I am precious and want to avoid getting my gym shoes wet, this has meant my walking has been curtailed over the past week.

I do not walk every day at the moment — I probably head out three or four times per week — but I have noticed the impact of not being able to get out. I enjoy walking at the end of the day, as it helps me process the day and switch off from work mode.

When I do not physically get out of the home office, I find that I continue thinking about work and want to sneak back in ‘to make a quick start on this for tomorrow’ or to run over something I did that day.