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| 6.5 years has passed and yet still this street never fails to smell of freshly made fudge |
So despite only having one side that I can enter and exit my bed (it's pushed against the wall), I somehow managed to wake up on the wrong side this morning.
I had dozed off with all my lights on and waking up to glaring artificial light in natural daylight made me feel confused and suffocated. It didn't help that my dreams were exhaustingly vivid all night long and the way in which I slept last night had also given me a very stiff neck. Even coffee failed to work its magic on me.
The morning was not going very well.
After much contemplation I decided that I needed to leave my flat to get some fresh air. Hey, I may be an introvert but I am no hermit- I still needed to assume some form of contact with the world right? I just had to do it from my protective bubble of course! So off I went, trekking 40 minutes by foot to the centre... and it was the best decision ever. You can say that I left the house as Jekyll and came back as Hyde... or well, whichever was the happier among the two.
After today's enlightenment I have decided that a walk is always a good idea to make a rubbish day right again and here are my reasons:
1. Spontaneity makes life all the more exciting
As much as I appreciate quiet days at home, sometimes being confined within the four walls of my flat can feel a little suffocating. In solitude I become more aware of time passing and as a result tend to go overboard with attempts to be productive in order to make the most of it. This means an overload of articles, blogs, books, movies, and list of chores to do. After all the effort to occupy my free time my day feels forcefully planned, and I end up even more tired.
When I am walking my perception of time diminishes and I am completely consumed by my surroundings: The sun in my face. The passing traffic. The people I pass. The shops I enter and exit. Everything is happening effortlessly around me without me having to plan these events. All I have to do is tune in or tune out, and soak in the moments. The moments are always random and spontaneous, and the surprise catches me off guard and this excites my brain waves.
2.Life is an [unstaged] spectacle. No TV program can beat that.
Most of the time while walking I tend to be lost deep in my own world but no matter what something always grabs my attention and rearranges my train of thoughts and perspective altogether. Today I tried to be more mindful of my surroundings and realised that public spaces and streets are truly stages for life's theatrical events. Musicians bring so much life to the streets with their performances, and shop windows not only display an assortment of products for sale-- they also frame the antics of shoppers inside. In Waterstones I overheard a conversation between two students in the play section chatting about Meryl Streep's phenomenal performance. In a comic book store I catch the salesgirl talking about uncovering something disgusting in the stockroom. I wonder what it was.
3.Your surroundings can stimulate your senses
After having just recovered from a cold I suddenly grew very aware of the smells around me, thanks to the countless food premises that line up the streets. After much mental mapping I concluded that my journey consisted of these predominant smells: sea breeze, coffee, toasted something (pizza presumably), books, more coffee, smoke from exhaust pipes, and the occasional whiff of marijuana... These are the scents that constitute Brighton in my memory.
4.Your surroundings can also inspire and give you great ideas
On the 40 minute trek back to the flat reason number 3 expanded and grew uncontrollably into a full blown thesis proposition. It was as though all the fresh air and oxygen travelling into my brain had woken up a very rusty part of me and lit up a fused light bulb. Why did I not think of this idea a year ago when I so desperately needed an idea for my thesis? I am excited by this idea and will reveal it to you once I get my mind around it. This walk has given me the basis of a personal architectural project, and I am ecstatic.
Now I am convinced I need to go for a walk more often.
5.You are leisurely working out
So I calculated that I have stretched my legs for more than 5 kilometres today without feeling like death like I usually do when I am trying to run the same distance. I feel the same feel good effect-- I know this walk has released some happy hormones because I come back feeling like my mood has been tilted 180 degrees and I don't feel so crap anymore.
If you're having a terrible day I urge you to just step outside and take a walk around the block. It doesn't make your problems disappear but it changes how you perceive it. Sometimes all you need is fresh air to get some clarity in your life and to put things into perspective.
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