The joy of taking two long walks a day

I begin and end almost every day in motion, liberating myself from screens and other distractions.

What started off as a step toward improving my physical health became more of a meditative workout — one that often helped me clear my mind and change my mood for the better.  

by Abdallah Fayyad 

abdallah.fayyad@globe.com. Follow him @abdallah_fayyad. 

Earlier this year, I read Haruki Murakami’s memoir “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.” In it, the best-selling author writes about his affinity for long-distance running, some of the many grueling marathons and triathlons that he’s participated in, and how, over the decades, the sport became a central part of his life. “Most of what I know about writing I’ve learned through running every day,” he writes.

As someone who has long had an on-again, off-again relationship with running — and a general preference for activities like lying on the couch for long stretches of time — I couldn’t really relate to Murakami’s obsession with endeavors that push the human body to its limits. But I did appreciate how meditative the sport seems to be for him. I also happened to read his book while I was thinking about ways to improve my overall health, and though I was not exactly inspired to train for a marathon, I thought I could give walking a try.

I started off with a reasonable goal: start every day by walking on a trail near my apartment. But as the weeks went by, these walks got longer and longer, and before I knew it, I was walking at night too. Since July, most of my days have been bookended with hour-long walks, give or take.

One day in September, I walked a total of 20 miles and I began to realize why I had developed this new habit: What started off as a step toward improving my physical health became more of a meditative workout — one that often helped me clear my mind and change my mood for the better.

In a year packed with overwhelming and depressing news events, walking, it turned out, was a decent antidote.

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It isn’t that going on these walks makes me avoid or forget about important news. It’s that walking provides me with an alternative way to digest it. Instead of doomscrolling through a never-ending feed of horrifying footage — of Israel’s unconscionable destruction of Gaza, for example, or the Trump administration’s cruel immigration crackdowns — I go on walks and ruminate.

There have been times when, no matter how long the walk, all the ruminating left me feeling angrier or more upset. But more often than not, I found myself coming back home from walks feeling lighter. Unlike doomscrolling, which tends to leave me with a sense of panic, despair, and helplessness, walking gives me a sense of calm to start and end my days with. There have also been many times when my walks — which give me a quiet period to think deeply about whatever is on my mind — have inspired ideas for stories I would go on to write (including this one).

Part of the reason these walks feel so productive is that they aren’t a means to distract myself from the things that are bothering me. Instead, they help me avoid distractions altogether. For the most part, I don’t listen to podcasts or music while walking. I just let my mind wander and follow my thoughts wherever they lead me.

To be sure, I’ve also been on plenty of walks where I (mostly) think about nothing. And I found that those walks are equally fulfilling. When I don’t have much on my mind, I just observe everything around me, and the walk makes me feel more connected to the world than social media ever could.

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I’ve gotten to know my neighborhood better, run into friends or acquaintances, and even started recognizing the faces of people who go on walks around the same times I do. One pair, for example, is an elderly couple who are almost always holding hands. Another is two younger women, always dressed in fashionable all-black athletic gear while walking briskly and speaking to each other in Italian about something that clearly animates them. I might not yet know these people’s names, but I know they are my neighbors.

I realize I’m lucky to be in a phase of life that affords me the time to go on so many walks. Parents of young children, for example, may not have that luxury. But the reason I’m writing about this now is that many of us are thinking about New Year’s resolutions. And no doubt you already know that most resolutions never last beyond January — or February at best. But one thing I learned through developing this walking habit is that if you want to successfully establish a new hobby or routine, you should aim for something that you’ll probably enjoy instead of something that feels more like a daunting task.

It’s also important to not put undue pressure on yourself if you want a resolution to last. It turns out that it’s fine if you break your newly found routine from time to time (the recent cold snap, for example, kept me indoors and away from my walks, as did a bout of flu). If you pick up a new habit that’s genuinely enriching, you’ll find that it won’t be a drag to keep up with, and you’ll always go back to it, even after a break. Slowly but surely, it will become a part of your life.

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So if you’re still looking for some resolutions for 2026, I hope this column inspires you to find a hobby — be it walking or something else suitable for you — that gives you meaningful time to spend away from screens and with your thoughts. I don’t yet know what my resolutions will be — but I do know that though I won’t be training for a marathon anytime soon, come the New Year I’ll still be going on my daily walks.