I don't think that I'm overselling this when I say that the Wonder Wander has changed my life. I know what you are thinking - "that's not a real thing. You made that up." Correct! As far as I know, the Wonder Wander is entirely my own invention although I'm not so vain as to think that others have not done this without the fabulous alliterative title that I have given it. "Fine," you now mutter. "What exactly is this Wonder Wander?"
Great question! Thank you for asking.
At its core, the Wonder Wander is just a walk, but it is so much more than that and at the same time nothing like it at all. I don't know about you but the word "walk" is very loaded.
Get your steps
Exercise
It's good for you
Something you should be doing
I'm not saying that these things aren't true, but my stupid brain has the mechanism where if someone tells me to do something, I instantly don't want to. Example: when someone says, 'don't drink caffeine after noon - it will keep you up all night.' My dumb brain says, 'You're not the boss of me! I'll drink that caffeine whenever I want to,' and then I promptly end up staying awake all night. It's a super fun way to live, let me tell you. The point being, if someone tells me to 'exercise and get out of the house', or 'get 10000 steps a day' my brain says, 'well that's not going to happen - Netflix and chill it is!'
This means that I have to be very careful about what information I give my brain if I want to do things like sleep and live a long healthy life. Enter the Wonder Wander.
Before I get into what the Wonder Wander is, let me explain exactly what this amazing experience has done for me.
* I wake up feeling energized and excited about my day. The very first thing I do, is check in with my husband about when we can go on 'our walk' (he prefers these more traditional words but I know deep in my heart that this is the furthest thing from a 'walk').
* I no longer feel guilty because I am not exercising/taking care of my body. I am literally moving it outside in nature every single day. Will this replace going to the gym and lifting weights. Absolutely not, but lets be real. I am not the go to the gym and lift weights type of person, so no loss there. Plus, guilt is a very heavy thing to carry around with you all day. I have been set free from this burden.
* My blood pressure was never really a problem for me but apparently it is even better than it was before.
* I haven't had a major depressive episode since I started this practice (knock on all the wood everywhere). I'm not going to say that it cured my depression. I am still on my medications, but for years, even on my medication, I would go into serious depressive episodes periodically. That hasn't happened in months and months. I still experience depression but the times that I am in depression have shortened to a couple of hours instead of days or weeks. My therapist says that it is because of these Wonder Wanders as well as a few other things that I am doing to support my mood, and she is a professional so you don't just have to take my word for it.
* I find myself appreciating all the good things in my life. We are hard-wired to look for the negative things happening around us. This daily practice has trained my brain to find all the positive things around me instead.
* My relationship with my husband has never been stronger. We talk about all sorts of things on our Wanders, our hopes and dreams, politics, what we are working on, how we are feeling about things. It is dedicated time each day that entirely ours and it is precious.
I know what you are thinking. I've convinced you but you still have no idea what this crazy thing actually is.
There are some simple guidelines for a Wonder Wander - again not Rules because we all know what the R-word does to my brain.
1. Do not track your heart-rate, steps, altitude or any other 'health' metric. The Wonder Wander is not about meeting your health goals.
2. Stop and look at the things that interest you. This is where the Wonder part of the phrase comes into play. For me, I always stop when I see mushrooms or light shining just right through the tree branches. Notices these things/moments. Comment on them to your very patient 'walking' buddy who is just trying to get a little exercise. Bonus points if you take a photo of them. It can be a 'good' photo or a 'bad' photo. The goal is the really savor the experience.
3. Explore paths and places you have never been. This is Wander part. I know, I know, the forest is constantly changing, but really, once I've walked a trail a few times, I start to get bored of it. This allows you to really dive deep into all that your area has to offer. Apparently, there is a secret network of hiking trails in my area that you can only learn about through word of mouth when talking to people on the trails.
4. Talk to people. At the very least say hello. If they have a dog, it must be pet. This is a rule that is outside of my hands. It must be done. Unless the owner says not to - and then be sad.
5. If at any point you start to feel tired and like this whole experience is a lot of work, stop. Go home.
6. Hills suck. Avoid them if you can. We are not trying to 'get into shape' - whatever that means. We are trying to be immersed in wonder and that is very difficult when you are huffing and puffing up a steep incline.
7. If you don't feel like going on your Wonder Wander, you are doing it wrong. It is pure joy and love and all things wonderful.
8. Your Wander might last 4 hours and it might last 4 minutes. Neither one is better than the other. It might be in a magical forest or it might be in a busy downtown. There is plenty of Wonder in all places.
Start small. The idea of walking everyday was absolutely overwhelming to me, but stepping outside for 5 minutes was totally doable and even enjoyable. I didn't plan on these little walks turning into the Wonder Wanders that they have become, but once you get started and find the joy in this daily practice, it becomes difficult to stop.
Sometimes I do my Wander alone and I try to really focus on the noises around me when I do since that is a part of the experience that I often lose out on while talking with my husband. I prefer to do this with him for reasons already mentioned, but you can absolutely do this practice solo.
My husband is a tracker so I know that we typically walk between 1.5 and 2 miles. Sometimes we walk 4 miles and sometimes we walk 1/4 of a mile. The distance really doesn't matter. The pace really doesn't matter. The location really doesn't matter. Just give this a try and see if it changes your world as much as it changed mine.
