Is it weird to walk alone? You might wonder this if it isn’t something that you do very often. As someone who goes for walks almost daily and very often does it alone, I never imagined that people might consider it strange to walk alone.
Walking alone is not weird, although you might need to be careful if you are doing it at night or in a dangerous area. Otherwise, walking along is a great activity that can give you time to yourself and a bit of physical activity at the same time.
We are so used to doing things with other people that the idea of doing something alone often seems strange. Simultaneously, walking is a low impact activity that gets you moving and gives you time to think.
If you were ever worried about walking alone, let’s dig into why it might be one of the best things you can do.
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Try Walking Alone
The best way to determine whether something is good or not is to try it out yourself. This doesn’t mean you should try everything as some things aren’t worth trying, but walking alone is not one of those things. As an introvert, I’m used to doing things by myself because I enjoy being alone and am often interested in trying things out without looking for a friend to join me.
This might not be the case for you, extroverted people tend to get energy from being around other people, so this often translates into a preference for doing things with other people. As everyone is different, it is hard to make generalizations, but I suspect if you are wonder if it is weird to walk alone, you are likely an extrovert.
If you aren’t used to doing something, it will always feel strange.
As a child growing up, I always hated eating rice, but as an adult who has spent lots of time in east Asia, I now love rice and find it strange not to eat it for a couple of days. The point here is that what felt strange before might feel normal later, and what seems normal now might feel strange later.
To make walking alone feel more normal, you need to try it out, going for a short walk around the block is easy and doesn’t take much commitment. Once you have done it once, it won’t feel so strange anymore, and it will be easier to make a routine of it.
As someone who walks most days, something usually feels off if I’ve not been outside. This most likely is happening because I’ve made a habit of walking, and anytime we break a habit, we feel strange or out of place. In other words, what we do is who we are and if we stop doing something we don’t feel that same. This is both good and bad as when we have good habits, it is okay if it takes a while to break them, but when we have bad habits, it would be a lot easier if we could break them more easily.
What is essential, however, is that you should not let other people influence what you think about the things you are doing.
The only person who can judge what you are doing is yourself, obviously, this isn’t always the case, as if you are doing something to other people that could be weird.
But generally, at least as far as walking is concerned, if you let your thoughts about what other people might be thinking to control your actions, you will never do what you want to do.
Realistically, the only reason why you should be careful while walking alone is if it is at night or you are in an unsafe place. This is easy for me to say cause I am a larger guy, and most people would rather avoid me. But at the very least, this is something to consider, so don’t walk alone if it isn’t safe.
Benefits of Walking
I have written extensively about the benefits of walking, so check that out if you want a deeper dive. However, walking is almost always a good thing to do, so here are some ideas to consider.
- Walking is great for your health. Just getting out and moving will give you some of the exercise you need to keep healthy. Plus, walking is low impact, burns a few calories and helps you feel better.
- Walking is excellent for your brain. Exercise gets the blood flowing, which is good for the brain. It also gets you out of the house so you can get some fresh air, and a different setting so your mind can relax.
- Walking is good for creativity. Walking outside gets you in a different environment, which helps your mind think differently about the things that are going on inside of your head. This mixing of information and context helps with creativity.
- Walkings Helps With Stress. Everyone has some stress in their life; going outside for a walk is a great way to get your mind out of whatever it is focused on and start thinking of something else. Personally, walks are my number one stress relief practice.
- Walks are good for productivity. Going for a walk is a great way to improve your productivity, as it allows you to take a break, context shift, and reset your mood so you can dig into your work again.
These are just some of the benefits of walking, but there is always a good reason to go for a walk, even if you are by yourself.
Benefits of Spending Time Alone
There are also benefits to spending some time alone, which will complement the benefits of walking. The idea here is that spending time alone is good, but it might not be something that we do very often.
- Revive your social energy. Everyone has a different level of tolerance for how long they can spend around other people. Spending some time alone helps recharge your social energy so that you can get back to social interactions.
- Potential for less negativity. Sometimes people give us a hard time, or there can be a lot going on at home or in the office, and so the people around us might be complaining or pushing us in a negative direction. Getting away from other people lets us focus on what matters to us rather than what everyone else is thinking or telling us.
- Less stress. People aren’t always the cause of stress, but they often contribute to it; an excellent way to cut down stress is to get a little time to ourselves.
- Depend on yourself. Often we might rely on the people around us for support, but when we are alone, we need to deal with those problems or concerns by ourselves.
- Redirection of attention. For myself, I have a lot of trouble concentrating if there are other people in the room. Getting away from people or being by myself helps me regain my attention and lets me think more about what needs my attention.
Benefits of Walking Alone
Walking alone has additional benefits that improve it beyond the scope of walks and being alone on their own.
- You can walk alone whenever you want. My mom always takes a walk with her friends, but it also involves lots of scheduling, which for me, would take away the fun of a walk. When you walk alone, you can go whenever you want.
- Walking alone can be like meditation. When you are walking with someone else, you need to talk or pay attention to them. When you walk alone, you can think about nothing but yourself. Walking alone is a great time to meditate.
- Walking alone gives you a chance to listen to something. Whether you are into music or podcasts, walking alone is a great time to catch up on something you’ve been waiting to hear.
- You can go where you want. When I walk with my wife, she always likes to have a plan or at least know where we are going, but when I walk alone, I don’t like to think about that at all; I just go with the flow.
Some people might consider walking alone weird, but it isn’t weird, if anything walking alone is a perfect activity. I say this because getting exercise is always important, but so is getting time to ourselves which allows us to think about what’s going on in our lives or what we need to deal with at the moment. In addition, both of these activities are great for stress relief and recharging from or for social interactions.