Walk on the mild side

During the very first lockdown I remember holding a weekly call with the entire business. It contained updates on the pandemic from the experts I was in touch with and information on the ways those developments could affect us as an organization. However, it was also just a chance to connect on a human level with people at a time that was fraught with difficulties and worry for many of us, and share my own personal insight and advice.

That all feels like a lifetime ago now, but during a call last week someone mentioned a piece of advice I’d given during one of those calls, that I’d long forgotten as being out of the ordinary, but that had stuck with them as their go-to wellbeing hack.

At the time, we were all working from home and the days were tough. Whether that was trying to work while our families lived around us, to general uncertainty over our own personal safety in the middle of a public health crisis. There was a lot of worry that made sitting down for a 9-5 feel very difficult indeed. It was at that time that I told staff that if they were feeling the load being too much, they should log off and go for a walk to cool down. It was very off the cuff and based on my own way of coping, but I’m glad it’s stuck with some people.

There’s a quote attributed to Ernest Hemmingway that I think can be adapted to most of our working lives. Whilst his was “write drunk, edit sober”, I’m sorry to say that I’m not about to suggest we all locate to the pub when the working day gets a bit too much! However, I think there’s a lot to be said about needing a healthy physical and mental mindset to make sure we’re at our most productive, rather than churning out mediocre work because we aren’t in the right state.

I know from experience that trying to battle through fatigue is often a natural way to tackle the day, but I also know that simply continuing to work through it is very rarely productive. Instead, the combination of fresh air and the endorphins from your heart rate increasing, and ten minutes of looking at natural light instead of a screen and a moment of solitude instead of notifications, can mean that you return to your screen completely re-charged and ready to go again, with renewed focus.

So where would my dream walks take me? The perfect place would be a sea front or riverside to remind me of home, but in the absence of any water near to where I live, I love any route that takes me through or past some greenery to remind me of the countryside. Although if I’m being totally honest, my dream walk in the country would probably involve stopping every couple of hundred yards to swing a golf club while I was at it! However, the reality is that a quick stroll in the middle of a difficult day can be transformative.

It doesn’t need to be an hour-long hike and I’d hope your days aren’t so stressful that it needs to be a daily occurrence, but even 10-15 minutes is enough to give you time to destress and make better decisions in a less pressurised environment. So, the next time you feel your energy levels drop, why not get your trainers on and see how much good your legs can do for your brain?

And even better, once you’ve done that, I’d love to know your go-to walks for a bit of inspiration myself!