The Radical Act of Walking Slowly

I used to measure my worth in steps per minute.

Not kidding. There was this period—let's call it my "optimization era"—when I'd sprint-walk to meetings, timing my pace like some sort of efficiency robot. Faster meant better, right? More calories burned, more ground covered, more... productive.

God, I was exhausting.

It took a burnout, a therapist, and honestly way too many self-help books to realize something ridiculously simple: maybe our bodies aren't meant to be optimized. Maybe they're meant to be lived in.

Walking as Revolution

Here's what I think is actually radical in 2024: moving slowly on purpose.

While everyone's obsessing over HIIT workouts and tracking their heart rate zones, I want to talk about the subversive power of just... walking. Not power-walking. Not race-walking. Just walking like you're a human being instead of a productivity machine.

Because here's the thing our ancestors knew that we've somehow forgotten: walking isn't exercise. It's how we think. It's how we process. It's how we remember we have bodies that exist in space and time.

The research backs this up in ways that would make your Fitbit weep with joy—but more on that in a minute.

The Science of Slow

Let me tell you what happens in your body when you walk at a pace that doesn't make you feel like you're late for everything.

Your muscles start releasing these things called myokines—basically cellular text messages that tell inflammation to calm the hell down. This isn't just about burning calories (though honestly, the whole calorie-counting thing is pretty much nonsense anyway). This is about your body remembering how to be anti-inflammatory without requiring a pharmacy.

Studies show that regular walking can reduce your risk of metabolic diseases, certain cancers, and—I'm not making this up—erectile dysfunction. Apparently, walking is good for literally everything, including your sex life. Who knew that the secret to feeling sexier wasn't another boutique fitness class?

But here's where it gets really interesting: multiple ten-minute walks throughout your day might actually be better than one long sweaty session.

Your body doesn't care if you walked for thirty minutes straight or if you took three ten-minute walks while thinking about your grocery list. The benefits accumulate. It's like compound interest, but for your cells.

And if you can walk outside? Even better. There's actual research showing that walking in green spaces does something to your brain that walking on a treadmill while watching Netflix just... doesn't. Something about trees and sky and the radical concept of existing in the actual world instead of a fluorescent-lit box.

Making It Ridiculously Simple

I know what you're thinking. "Maya, I barely have time to shower most days. Where am I supposed to find time to walk?"

Fair point. But here's what I learned: you don't find time. You steal it back.

Walk while you're on calls. Seriously. Unless you're presenting or need to type, put your phone on speaker and move around. Your colleagues will think you sound more energetic. (You will.)

Get off the bus/train/whatever a stop early. Or park farther away. I know, I know, this feels like lifestyle advice from 2003. But sometimes the old advice is old because it works.

Walk after dinner. Just ten minutes. Around the block. With your partner, your dog, or just yourself and whatever podcast is currently consuming your brain.

Take actual lunch breaks. Revolutionary concept, I realize. But instead of eating at your desk while stress-scrolling, grab your food and eat it somewhere that requires... walking to get there.

The magic number seems to be about 3 mph, which is roughly the speed of "walking like you're late for something but not desperately late." Or about 80% of your maximum walking speed, if you want to get technical about it.

But honestly? Don't get technical about it.

The Thing That Really Changes

Here's what happens when you start walking regularly that no one talks about: you start noticing things.

The way morning light hits buildings differently in winter. How your neighborhood sounds at 6 PM versus 6 AM. The fact that your thoughts organize themselves differently when your body is moving.

I used to think meditation was sitting still and emptying your mind. Now I think it might be walking and letting your mind fill up with whatever it needs to process. No apps required. No special cushions or breathing techniques or guilt about not being mindful enough.

Just... feet on ground. Ground under feet. Breath in, breath out, step after step.

It's the most natural antidepressant we have. The most accessible therapy. The closest thing to magic that doesn't require believing in magic.

The Permission You Don't Need (But I'm Giving Anyway)

You don't need new shoes. You don't need a fitness tracker. You don't need to time anything or track anything or optimize anything.

You just need to remember that your body was designed to move through space, not to sit in small boxes staring at other small boxes.

You have permission to walk slowly. To take your time. To move like someone who has nowhere urgent to be, even if you do.

You have permission to find the route that makes you happy instead of the route that's most efficient. To stop and look at things. To let your mind wander.

You have permission to treat walking not as exercise but as existing. As being human in the most basic, fundamental way.

Start Here

Tomorrow—and I mean literally tomorrow, not "when you have time" or "once you get your life together"—walk for ten minutes.

Don't plan it. Don't prepare for it. Don't buy anything or download anything or read more articles about the optimal time of day or the perfect walking posture.

Just walk. Out your door, around your building, to the corner store, wherever. Walk like you belong in your body. Walk like you have time, even if you don't. Walk like it matters, because it does.

The revolution starts with a single step. Preferably a slow one.

What's one small way you could add walking to tomorrow? I'm genuinely curious—and I bet other readers would love to hear your creative solutions in the comments.