When Walking Has Replaced Writing
How my morning routine has changed (yet again)
My morning routine is fairly predictable. I am often awake by 4:00 a.m. I write for two hours. The rest of my family wakes, and we begin breakfast.
Until recently, by 7:30 or so, I would return to my computer, and that was my “personal writing time.” That earlier two-hour chunk was reserved for deep work, but at 7:30 for about 45 minutes, I would work on a blog post or write here on Medium.
That changed a few weeks ago. I started taking long walks in the morning. It began as a way to quell some anxiety. I had set a boundary with someone from my past, and that person forced his way back into my life (until I set a more firm boundary on communication). It unnerved me. And even though the interaction was brief and then over, I spent several days with my heart racing — reliving a lot of bad memories.
It was hard to work (especially when my work depends on writing) when I felt so off-balance. So I turned to walking. I would write, walk. Write, walk. Repeat throughout the day, writing in smaller chunks and then getting out into the sunshine. I was walking several miles every day.
It didn’t take long for the anxiety to quell, as I continued to reassure that overactive “fight or flight” response from my body “You’re…
