I recently made the move to Portland, Oregon, packing up everything and moving across the country. This is easily the most trying time of my life, with stressful thing on top of stressful thing each and every day. Two weeks ago, I found myself complaining that I had lost focus, creativity and overall happiness, much of which I attributed to my lack of daily structure. For the past year in Chicago I had set up a series of simple morning events, anchored by my morning walk, which helped me organize my day and work into a flow. Since moving to Portland, that routine simply didn’t exist.
Knowing the need for structure, and feeling the itch to start walking again, reintroducing the 25-30 minute walk into my morning routine to me made great sense. Since I started my morning walks in my new neighborhood last week, I’ve experienced the following:
– My stress level (heart rate, irritability) has gone down. My heart is feeling lighter and I am happier.
– My mind is clearing up. My mind felt cloudy for quite some time (before I left Chicago), leaving me frustrated. It’s like the clouds lifted.
– My body has more energy. I don’t feel as wiped out at the end of each day like I was for the first month of living in Portland.
Getting up at 5 am and going for a walk has helped energize me again. I am thinking clearer, less stressed and feeling a surge of energy early on in the day, all of which have helped me regain the creative edge I was desperately searching for.
The Morning Walk Project 