As temperatures cool and the air becomes less humid, the conditions are becoming almost perfect for walking. Even when it isn’t as nice as it is, there are several benefits to walking including helping the environment, being able to have a break from concentrating on one of various tasks, and being able to enjoy the interesting things you notice while getting to your destination.

In addition to the benefits to the environment, you don’t have to be as attentive when you walk. While driving requires constant attention to a hundred different things, walking requires none. All you need to keep moving towards your destination and make sure you know where you are.

However, you don’t even need a destination to enjoy a walk. While if one were driving aimlessly, they would be wasting money and gas, with walking, this isn’t a concern because it doesn’t cost anything to go on a walk. Many times when I leave for a walk, I don’t know where I will end up because I can just make the decision to turn, keep going, or cross the street as I approach each intersection. 

Additionally, while it may be distracting for some (including me) to sustain a conversation while driving, it is significantly easier to communicate while walking, because walking distracted is significantly safer than driving distracted (though of course doing either while not distracted is ideal).

Since you don’t have to focus on trying to get to a destination, you can spend more time enjoying getting there. You can hear the calls of birds, the chatter of people, and the croak of other animals. You can feel a strong wind blow and see it lift up leaves thirty feet. You can see a stream rushing after a rainstorm while the scent of rain is still in the air, and you can walk through a shaded patch of forest and enjoy the quiet moment it provides. Most of all, you can marvel at all the amazing things you notice when you slow down to look. 

My favorite part of walking, however, is the break it gives from school and other responsibilities. I feel like I don’t have any obligations during a walk, except to enjoy it. It also allows me time to just think about anything. When I am having trouble writing, going on a walk, however long or short, helps me think of ideas, eliminate ones that won’t work, and reshape my initial ideas. 

Take advantage of walking the next time you have the opportunity to do so because wherever you’re going, it’ll be a step in the right direction.