Talk of the Walk

Almost every morning, I leave my desk and go for a walk. I can make it around the periphery of the state hospital campus – 1.7 miles – in about 20 minutes.

I don’t ask permission and I don’t tell people what I’m doing, but just about everyone at work knows I walk by now. While some of my work is important, very little of it will suffer by having to sit on my desk for an extra 20 minutes while I stroll about the old asylum grounds as Austinites have been doing since before the Civil War.

If I were a manager, I would hold walking meetings with my staff. Why sit in a conference room when you can be up and about in the great outdoors? I’m sure this would take a few people aback, but at least it would be better than summoning folks to the crapper like LBJ.

Then again, part of why I walk is to clear my mind. If someone offered me an additional $10,000 a year for a job where I couldn’t walk every morning, I’d turn it down. That’s how important walking is to me.

If I don’t get enough walking in during the day, I can’t sleep at night. When I don’t sleep, my ability to cope and handle stress goes straight to hell. Without the benefit of my morning walks, I can easily imagine winding up at the other end of the state hospital campus where they don’t let you leave at 5pm.