Walking Outdoors Releases Your Creativity

By Mary Cornelius

On average, a full-time employee in the United States works 1,801 hours per year, or 37.5 hours per week, which is more than other OECD countries. (1)

The Protestant work ethic was ingrained in those of us who grew up in the American Midwest of the 1950s. Once children outgrew naps, they were expected to be busy, either at play, school, or chores. Now much older with aching joints, I am learning to be lazy, but not without guilt.

Having ignored my blog site, I recently forced myself to sit at the computer to finish a short post. It wasn’t my best. The next day, while out walking, I lamented the banality of the short essay. With no effort, I came up with several witty phrases to replace the bland syntax in the article. I knew that I had ignored the greatest tool in a writer’s toolbox: walking. 

Instead of languidly sipping a latte before tackling a difficult project, we should be taking an energetic walk around the block.

The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain

Annie Murphy Paul

What do William Blake, David Sedaris, Henry David Thoreau, Friedrich Nietzsche, Søren Kierkegaard, Ralph Waldo Emerson, J.K. Rowling, Henry Miller, Stephen King, and Ernest Hemingway have in common besides writing? They were or are walkers. I mean lots of walking. Hours per day. They recognized the power of walking outdoors to release their creativity. Lest you think you can’t give up time for walking, according to Annie Murphy Paul: 

People who have recently spent time amid outdoor greenery catch more errors on a proofreading assignment, for example, and provide quicker and more accurate answers on a fast-paced cognitive test, than do people who have just finished a walk in an urban setting.

Rather than decreasing productivity by taking you away from your desk, walking outdoors releases your creativity to increase productivity in a shorter period. I don’t think this is a surprise for those of a certain age. It should be welcome news for people of every age. 

On my bucket list is manifesting that busy-ness does not equal productivity. It is said that good things come to those who wait. Well, good ideas come to those who walk. Especially those who walk outdoors. Take a hike.

Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.

Henry David Thoreau