At that time, I was engrossed with the idea that I can limit the pollution caused by my motorcycle or other vehicles if I walk to my school. I was intrigued by the idea that I can influence other to reduce travelling by vehicles to reduce the greenhouse gasses and also, to ease the traffics.
To be honest, a heavy traffic in my area influenced me to do so. It is faster to walk than to take public transport or motorcycle. I had switched to bicycle before, but the hurdle to climb up the road is too high for me and I would arrived at home flooded with sweats.
So, I chose walking and choose a narrower pathway which not suitable for a motorcycle to go through.
It requires around 20-30 minutes of walking to reach my school. I think it was quite a long time and if I don't do anything it will go to waste. So, I started listening to music. But then, I switched to TED.com in order to improve my English because at that time I was preparing for my IELTS test.
It was a good experience, I must admit. I can improve my English while burning some fat and improving my fitness. Not to mention, I can improve my knowledge and creativity because TED.com offers various and enchanting topics.
However, it doesn't last long. Why? Because it requires so many energy and concentration. It is actually quite hard to stay focus on the speakers while you are walking in a "dynamic" environment. More cars, steep road, busy people on the road, and more. So, after I took my IELTS test, I became too lazy to start listening to TED again. There are also more projects coming, so I have to switched my attention to these projects and voila, another habit came in.
I started using my walking time to call my parents and my siblings. Sometimes, I used the time to reply to some messages on my social media. However, the same problem always there. The environment is never too calm for me to create comfortable and calm environment to talk to others. Noisy cars, pollution, bad signals, wizzy-wozzy people (you know the old men who like to flirt? It's quite annoying but inescapable).
So, there are actually many options that we can use for multi-tasking while walking.
But then, the stress were coming up. Too tired to talk, too tired to listen to TED, too tired for anything.
So, I just started enjoying every step, every breathing, every sight. I just look at people, smile at anyone (sometimes I even bring myself to greet the annoying old men). It brings a lot of calmness to me and when I arrived at home, my mind became quite clear. And later, I bought a rosary ring and started to chanted the rosary and it serves as a spiritual and meditation time for me.
And after doing this for awhile, I find more improvements in my life.
- I became fitter. How do I know? I can do leg raises 10 times easily. Before, I can only do 5 at most, before giving up.
Well, it's not happen as easily as you might thought.
No.
While walking, you should hold your stomach and tightening it. - I feel more calm after arriving at home and can organize my day easily
- I can save time for workout (obviously). And burn more fat.
Actually, you can reduce your weight a pound (0.5 kg) per week by walking at least 15 km or 9 miles per week (or 3 km per day) - Improve my knowledge (and English, and in result have a good IELTS listening score) when I listened to TED.
- Feel closer with myself and God because I use the time to understand and examine my body (I am checking if there is unusual feeling or pain, heavy breathing and so on)
End of note: Walking is only possible if you have enough time tho. I won't prefer walking to somewhere more than 3 km in my usual day (I will, if it's one of my holiday). So, try to organize your time and always allocate more time. Usually, it takes 12,5 minutes to travel a kilometer distance.
