Walking on Moonshine

This is one of my favorite routines and it started out of nothing. I can’t recall a specific inspiration or why I started. One day I just went out for a walk when I was having trouble sleeping, and it stuck. While this habit did take a hit in the winter, I’ve started up again with spring weather upon us once again. This time offers me an opportunity to just think. I throw on some music and go for a an hour long route that I came up with over time. I let my mind go off the leash into whatever it desires in the moment. This helps me wind down significantly before bed, getting out all of the thoughts bouncing around.

Bedtime But Bright-Eyed

I wouldn’t go as far as saying I suffer from insomnia, talking to friends who do experience this I know not to, but I have had restless nights of sleep. I could lay in bed for three or four hours without even feeling a hint of sleepiness. A rare occurrence, but a frustrating one at that. Anyone who knows that trying to fall asleep makes falling asleep even more difficult. This walk became the first pillar in my nightly routine. After walking, I brush my teeth, set my alarm, and go to bed.

No more stirring about restlessly as my mind jumps from topic to topic with no natural transition. I certainly have nights where it takes a few minutes to get comfortable enough to fall asleep but nothing near the restlessness of the past. Just the other day, I found myself awake in the middle of the night, around 2:30 AM and couldn’t fall back asleep. I decided, I might as well get a walk in and see if it helped. Of course, upon returning to bed, I was out before I knew it.

A Free Mind is a Creative Mind

Curing restlessness is only one of the benefits I’ve seen from long walks. They also open up my mind for a lot of creative thinking. I have been able to come up with a number of solutions to problems I was facing or build up the courage to address something due to these walks.

There are definitely some moments when I think, “what the hell am I thinking about right now?” As the weirdest crap stirs around my head. Most of the garbage needs to be processed in order to get to the gold underneath. I have managed to come up with a lot of interesting ideas while on these walks. I don’t want to share the specifics here, but a project I’ve been working on and off for a few months was the product of one of these walks.

Many great thinkers from Stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius to the visionary behind Apple Steve Jobs famously used walks as moments to think and generate new ideas.

While certainly not a cure all, walking is good exercise for the body and mind. Adding it to a evening routine has helped me significantly. Maybe walking at night isn’t ideal for you, but getting a long walk in at some point during the day