The Holiday Season is winding down, the year is coming to a close, and folks are conjuring up their New Year’s resolutions. There are always the ever-popular promises to oneself to lose weight or to finally set up a budget and get our finances in order. These, however, seem like goals that are easier to make and harder to follow through with. It seems to me that a resolution to reduce the stress in our lives is a goal that is achievable and will go a very long way to improving our health and increasing our longevity. Making such a resolution to reduce stress is easy enough, and the good news is that achieving that goal is easier than you might think.
Every morning, as I begin the day, I enjoy a mug of hot coffee or tea and read the day’s entry in “The Daily Stoic,” a book containing 366 meditations on wisdom, perseverance, and the art of living. Thoughts and insights from some of the early philosophers, such as Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus, are presented for you to contemplate and perhaps adopt in the pursuit of becoming the best person you can be. It is a book I highly recommend. A recent passage titled “Take a Hike” really hit home because it went into detail about something I have done myself and have advised others to do over the years.
The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote in “On Tranquility of Mind” that “We should take wandering outdoor walks, so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing.” That day’s passage went on to explain the following:
In a notoriously loud city like Rome, it was impossible to get much peace and quiet. The noise of wagons, the shouting of vendors, and the hammering of a blacksmith — all filled the streets with piercing violence (to say nothing of the putrid smells of a city with poor sewage and sanitation). So philosophers went on many walks — to get where they needed to go, to clear their heads, and to get some fresh air.
Throughout the ages, philosophers, writers, poets, and thinkers have found that walking offers an additional benefit — time and space for better work. As the philosopher Nietzsche would say later: “It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth.”
With that in mind, when weather conditions allow, make sure you take a walk! Especially in the future, when you get stressed or overwhelmed, take a walk. When you have a tough problem to solve or a difficult decision to make, take a walk. When you want to be creative, take a walk. When you just need some fresh air, take a walk. When you have a phone call to make, take a walk. When you need to get some exercise, take a walk. When you are meeting up with a friend, take a walk together. Are you getting the picture?
Today’s world is one that, unfortunately, is filled with stress, anxiety, and an ever-increasing amount of divisiveness that is fostered and exaggerated by the politics of the day. One of the simplest and most effective ways to relieve stress and anxiety is to take a walk, and if time permits, go further by taking a hike! In those times when emotions are running high, or you just can’t find the answer to a nagging question, or you have simply had enough of the daily dose of divisive political bologna, take a walk — and better yet, take a hike.
Taking a walk or a hike will nourish you and your mind and offer the best opportunity to solve your problems along the way or come to grips with whatever you are dealing with at the time. So go ahead and start the new year with a resolution to reduce the stress in your life by going for a walk or a hike. I don’t mean numerous laps around the nearby mall, but instead get outside, get some fresh air, and let the stress just slip away as you focus on the really important things in life that put a smile on your face!
