A Perfectly Ordinary Walk

 I have been sick for almost a month.

It is something between a severe cold and the flu. Unfortunately, this means that my dog Penny has been stuck in the house dealing with my whining, crying, coughing, and a lot of crying.

Today was the first day that I was able to get her out for a walk. We went to one of our favorite trails. A short loop around the recreation area that the local high school uses for baseball and softball games. It cuts through the School Forest (when I was a kid, we would take little field trips here to plant more trees) which makes it feel a little like you’re on a grand adventure.

For the last 10 years, I have been someone who has been beholden to their activity tracker. I liked tracking my hikes, solo and with Penny, so that I had a record of where we had gone and the trails we had completed. I was always keeping track of my steps, a CrossFit workout, weightlifting sessions, or trying to get all the loops to close on my Apple Watch, I’ve always worn one.

When I initially got sick, I took my Garmin off. The constant notifications were causing my anxiety to skyrocket. The constant need to be connected to work, the news, friends and family, was too much, especially when all I wanted to do was rest and heal.

When we went out for our hike today, I didn’t put my Garmin back on. I left it at home. Our time today, out in the woods, was for renewal. It was not to make sure that we got in our daily cardio or hit our step goals. The whole purpose was to be out in the fresh air.

I don’t know how long it took us to finish our hike. Penny stopped to smell nearly every animal track we came across. She stopped to inspect and mark quite a few trees we passed along the way. She wanted to make sure the world knew she had been there. I took time for some deep breathing and observation. It was wonderful. It was about 25°, the snow had stopped for a brief period, and it was quiet. The only sounds are our footprints punching in the snow.

The one thing I really want to achieve for 2026 is to slow down. I want to stop feeling like there’s constantly some intangible goal that I need to reach. I don’t want to feel like I have to play catch-up or like I am constantly on the verge of falling behind to a point that there’s no point in trying. This is the start of that. This is the start of slowing down, and truly being present- not just my day, but also in the moments contained in each day.