Finding Beauty Going for a Walk

There’s a school across the street from our house. It has a great big lawn to play in and it’s got sidewalk all the way around. There’s houses on all sides and it’s a pretty cute neighborhood.

We’ve started walking around the school next to our house. It’s close enough that we can head out whenever we have a little time, and it’s become a simple way to get outside and enjoy the day. Everyone enjoys being outdoors, and a little sunshine is always welcome.

There are plenty of good reasons to get outside and walk. Walking gets your body moving without needing a complicated workout. Sunlight helps your body produce vitamin D, and spending time outdoors can be a nice change of pace from being inside all day. It doesn’t have to be a long walk to be worthwhile.

There’s something else I’ve been trying to do while we’re out: notice something new.

Looking at Familiar Things Differently

When you walk the same route often, it’s easy to stop paying attention. You know where the sidewalk goes. You recognize the trees and buildings. After a while, you can walk the whole route without really looking at anything.

I don’t want to get so used to seeing the same things that I stop seeing them altogether. We walk this a lot, I homeschool and we use this for part of our P.E., one lap is half a mile, and that makes it easy to track. If I’m not intentional, it would also be very easy to get bored with how often we are out there.

So I try to find something different to notice each time. It’s the same flowers, but new blooms. The shadows are different and can make something new stand out in the trees, or I’ll notice something about the school itself. The clouds are always different, it’s like a new painting everyday.

The route hasn’t changed, but there’s always something worth looking at.

There’s Beauty All Around Us

There’s something new every time if I look for it. Different bugs or flowers blooming. One of the houses got a new dog, a very cute puppy. We’ve gotten to talk to that family a couple of times and I would have missed out on meeting someone new if I wasn’t taking the time to notice what was different.

The birds fly everyday, but they don’t land in the same places and they don’t do the same things. We noticed a pair of doves that started hanging around more, and eventually, we saw where they built their nest. The trees are the same, but when they’re flowering, we see bees everywhere and can watch them float about the tree.

It’s easy to become familiar with a place and stop noticing the details. However, when I make an effort to look a little closer, I usually find something I hadn’t paid attention to before. The same walk can offer something different each time.

That’s one of the things I enjoy about these walks. We get some fresh air and sunshine, spend a little time moving around, and have a chance to notice what’s growing and changing around us.

Make Your Next Walk a Little More Interesting

If you find yourself walking the same route regularly, try giving yourself something new to look for. You could look for a flower you’ve never noticed before, pay attention to the different birds you see, or find an interesting leaf or tree along the way. You might even notice how the same spot looks different depending on the time of day or the weather.

You don’t need to turn every walk into a nature study. Just pick one thing to notice. The more you look, the more you start to realize how much is happening around you. There’s beauty in familiar places, too. Sometimes it’s just a matter of remembering to look.

If you enjoy finding little details in the world around you, you might also enjoy trying my Five-Minute Writing Challenge. It’s a simple way to take something you’ve noticed and turn it into a little writing exercise. You never know where an observation might lead!