Daily Walks: Elixir of Health and Content Creation (Content Challenge #15)

This was my morning walk experience for about 10 years.

​Most of us know that daily walks are good for us. We may not be able to list many specific benefits, but we know that walking is a low-impact elixir of health that's doable for almost anyone and doesn't require expensive equipment. My morning walks provide another benefit--they spawn lots of ideas that help me create content. To mark the halfway point in the Content Challenge, let's discuss daily walks, the well-known elixir of health, and the silent elixir of content creation.​

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What Health Benefits Does a Daily Walk Provide?

According to WebMD, a morning walk yields an extensive array of health benefits. These include, but aren't limited to:

• Feeling better.
• Clearing the mind.
• Lowering blood pressure and the risk of stroke, heart disease, and diabetes.
• Improving memory and reducing the risk of dementia.
• Boosting energy, overall physical health, and mental health.
• Preventing weight gain.

These are impressive! For me, the most remarkable reason to take a morning walk is this statement, also from WebMD: "Studies have found that 1 hour of brisk walking can increase your life expectancy by 2 hours." Wow! One hour of brisk walking can mean two more hours of life. 

In an earlier post, I shared how my habit of early-morning walking began when I started walking our puppies, Pepper and Callie. That was 13 years ago. Callie has passed, and Pepper is old and unable to walk briskly for any distance.  I'm still able to enjoy a brisk walk and have done so for so long that a morning without a walk seems incomplete.  I have two dogs to thank for helping me develop a habit with many health benefits. ​

How Do Morning Walks Help Content Creators?

Alan Moon, the creator of the wildly popular Ticket to Ride board game, says that "Ticket to Ride came into existence in the spring of 2003 during my morning walk along the Atlantic shore in Beverly, Massachusetts.  The night before, I had played a railroad prototype . . . and the playtest had not gone well. I was thinking about how to change it when a new idea suddenly popped into my head. The coastline and scenery disappeared during the rest of the walk, as this new idea formed into an entire game. I began playing it in my head and couldn't wait to get home." 

My morning walks haven't yielded results on that scale, but they certainly help me create content.  Here's what I've noticed:

• In the morning, my mind is fresh. I concentrate better. While I walk, I can ponder ideas and have some uninterrupted time to develop them.​
• Quite often, I meet neighbors. We chat briefly. Something they say or do spurs a thought. Sometimes those thoughts blossom into outlines for articles or blog posts. 
• The beauty and charms of nature spawn ideas.  A fiery-red dawn is awe-inspiring and thought-provoking. A wild bunny, a hawk in an evergreen, a turkey near a stream--these strike my imagination. My mind ponders while my feet pound the pavement. 

When I get back home, my mind is fully awake and ready to tackle the day. Obviously, I haven't come up with an idea as life-changing as Alan Moon's was. Nevertheless, I plan to walk tomorrow--and the next day. I don't know when a "Eureka!" moment will happen. When it does, I want to be able to ponder it at length.

Today's Call to Action

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You Accept the CHallenge, Too!

Today's challenge is simple: Take a walk.