Another Day, Same Crap? 10-Minute Walk to Change Things

If you’re feeling stuck or just bored with the same old day, this walk is calling your name.

You can do this walk outside, or inside on a treadmill or walking pad. Or even while cleaning or gardening.

It’s a little different. Part story, part real life, part “maybe it’s time to stop playing it so safe.”

Because you are way too interesting to be living the exact same day on repeat.

During our walk I wander into:

• what happens when you say yes to things you normally wouldn’t (scary… but also kind of amazing)
• what happened when I put everything I owned in storage and took off to travel the world
• how I managed to live on about $7K in lodging for a full year (so much cheaper than rent and utilities back home)
• why you don’t have to go far away to add some excitement

I also get into things like having just enough money for one more meal…, working remotely as a digital nomad (and waiting for clients to pay), and a few travel mishaps (and tips) along the way. 

There’s background walking music to keep you moving, and a bell at the halfway point if you want to turn around.

I may tell you travel stories, but this isn’t really about travel.

It’s about that moment where you realize… you don’t want your life to keep looking exactly like this.

You want something different. Something more.

And maybe you can’t make a big, dramatic change right now. That’s OK.

Sometimes the best changes start small. Yesireeeeee. 

Grab your sneakers. It’s time to walk.

PS. Did you say yes to something new this week? Let me know!
Instagram, Threads, or Facebook: @yourwalkingpodcast

Instagram, Threads or Facebook: @yourwalkingpodcast

Transcript

Speak: 0:05

Start walking with me at an easy warm-up pace. You can walk outside or inside on a treadmill or walking pad. Keep those hands loose. Relax those shoulders. So when we got to the airport, I started crying. I wasn't sad. I just suddenly felt free. The kids and I put almost everything we owned in storage, and everything else was in a suitcase or a backpack. We could only take what we could carry with us on this trip. And I was a little scared, too. I didn't have much money. But the overwhelming feeling that day, that was relief. Like something really heavy had been lifted off my shoulders. We'd planned to be gone about four months, but I ended up being gone about a year and a half, traveling the world. When I tell this story, what surprises people the most is how we were able to afford it. Settle into a faster, steady rhythm. Walk to the beat. Relax your shoulders. If you're walking outside, there'll be a bell at the halfway point in case you want to turn around. So why did we leave? Why did we put everything in storage and just take off? Because I couldn't take the daily grind anymore. It was day in, day out, same routine, same groundhog day, house we were renting decided to sell it. So we had to move. So instead of me rushing out to create the exact same life, we decided to do something different. My daughter, my youngest, had just graduated high school two months earlier. So I talked to them about it. And in August of 2017, my son, my daughter, and I just left. Poof. Go a little bit faster. Walk with a purpose. Brisk pace, but still conversational. And you're going to pump your arms a little bit, if you can. If you're walking your dog, that would be kind of hard, but do the best you can. People are usually shocked when I tell them how little I spent on lodging while I was traveling. You know, rent is so expensive, and especially in California. So for one full year of lodging, I spent about $7, 000 total. And that was for 12 months, not the full time I was gone. And that was the entire year. When the kids were travelling with me, most of the time we stayed in private Airbnbs, and I did the same thing when I was traveling alone. On occasion, I would have to rent just a room if it was too expensive. And sometimes we stayed in hotels, but the beauty of it was that utilities were all included. When we were in Thailand, where my sister lives, we stayed in a bungalow. It was about a five-minute walk across the street to the beach. It had two bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a pool, and probably a local cat or two, because there's cats all over and, you know, a little piece of heaven for me. And housekeeping was included. Laundry is incredibly cheap in Southeast Asia, so I didn't even have to do my own laundry. And, of course, the food is amazing and inexpensive. And so when you add everything up, it's still way cheaper than the rent and utilities back home. Of course, the lifestyle I was leading, it wasn't luck. It was hard. And it definitely wasn't easy. And I had to work while we traveled. Sometimes I couldn't move to the next country until clients paid me. And then one time after my daughter left, my son and I had just enough money for one more meal. We literally had to count out our Thai baht. So we went to our favorite Thai restaurant and decided to just enjoy the moment, not think about anything else. ordered our usuals and just sat there eating this incredible meal, knowing our pockets were completely empty. And the very next day, a client paid me and we could eat again. Hooray, hooray. It's a holi, holi holiday. But I'll always remember that slightly scary freedom of that last meal. It sounds so dramatic. "Our last meal". Keep holding that brisk pace. Check your posture. So during our travels, I also got really good at finding cheap flights and cheap destinations. One trick I used all the time was Skyscanner's "Everywhere" search. So instead of picking where I wanted to go, I would search for the cheapest place to fly to from wherever I was. And one search led me from Norway to Krakow, Poland. I would have never thought to go to Poland, but it was $29 from Oslo to Krakow. And I'm like, oops, I'm on it. Got to go there. The Airbnb was inexpensive. It was just amazing and incredible experience. Although some parts of Poland were also a little bit heavy. I got to see a lot of history in person. And by not having a lot of money is actually how I ended up spending a summer in the Balkans too. And I completely fell in love with that part of the world. Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Bulgaria. they were some of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. So looking back, I'm kind of grateful that I didn't have more money. Because if I'd had more money, I would have gone to the regular touristy places. really by being broke, it let me see the most amazing places in the world. And one of my favorite travel memories happened after Mostar. Let's go a little bit faster now, a stronger stride. This is a little bit more of an interval. Push the pace. Take a deep breath in and fill up your lungs. And now empty them fully. Exhale. Use the energy from your breathing. It's an uncomfortable pace. But you could still talk a few words, but not full sentences. Mostar is this beautiful old town in Bosnia. It has a stone bridge and a turquoise river, and little streets and cafes everywhere. So around the same time that I was traveling in the Balkans, my ex-husband's family was in Italy on the Amalfi Coast, and they invited me to come visit. And I really wanted to go, but you know, money and logistics. But I figured out a way. I took a seven-hour bus ride from Mostar to Split, Croatia, and then a flight from Split, Croatia to Naples, and then a shuttle down to the Amalfi Coast. And the Airbnb there was more than I would usually pay, so I could only stay two nights. But I got to spend a full day with the family. And at one point during this journey, we were trying to outrun a storm on a boat, and we were hanging on for dear life, about to be thrown overboard. And we were screaming and laughing. And somehow I managed to capture a video of us, like screaming while we're trying to hang on. It was so fun. It's one of those memories that are scary at the time, but later you just can't stop laughing. And we still talk about it today. It was so worth every effort it took me to get there. And then I reversed the entire trip, shuttle back to Naples, flight to Split, and a seven-and-a-half-hour bus ride, this time to Sarajevo, with one bathroom stop. Not glamorous, but I wouldn't trade that memory and that journey for anything. It was so fun and so amazing and so ridiculous. Slow it down just a little bit. Going to recover from that interval. Keep an open posture. Now roll those shoulders back. Big, big, big rolls. Get all those creaky, achy, tense spots out of your shoulders. And then roll those shoulders forward. Big, big, big rolls. Maybe tilt your head a little bit side to side. So Sarajevo ended up being one of my all-time favorite cities. There was so much history everywhere. And while I traveling, I'd been reading Ken Follett's Fall of the Giants, and I'd literally just finished the chapter about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. So later that same day, I went on a walking tour. I did a lot of walking tours. I walked so much. It was amazing. And found myself standing on the exact street corner where it happened. I saw the plaque, and it was one of those moments where you just walk right into a piece of history. It was kind of cool because I really didn't know much about that time period at all. And then completely by accident, I stumbled onto the Sarajevo International Film Festival. And there was so much going on. There was music and film and fun. One evening, I'm just walking and I hear music. And I'm like, where's that music coming from? And then I look, and I thought I was seeing things. I saw a disco tram driving through the city, my brain just couldn't understand this, whatever it was. The tram was blasting dance tunes, and it had neon lights. And then I looked inside as it passed me, and I saw this big disco ball. I've never seen anything like it, a disco tram. And one night I stayed for the closing film of the festival, and it was in an old courtyard, and we were all sitting on folding chairs, people from all around the world, and we were just watching this movie together. And it's one of those moments where you realize just how big and interesting the world really is, and it, again, it almost made me cry. I sure cry a lot, don't I? It almost made me cry. I'm such a baby. Okay, now we're going to go a little bit faster again. It's a short, brisker push. I just have so many amazing travel memories, and although I can't travel as much anymore, I try to do some things that are closer to home, and you don't have to travel the world to live more adventurously. Adventure can be mostly a mindset. Like when you drive everywhere, you miss so much, but when you walk, you notice a lot more things. I do that when I'm traveling. I do that when I'm home. You can go up to different streets, go to new neighborhoods, and there's places in your neighborhood that you probably never realized were even there. Hang on to that brisk pace. You're feeling a push, get your heart rate up. You want to feel some work right here. It's an uncomfortable pace. So what I like to say is become a tourist where you live. Do the touristy things. How many times have you recommended when people come visit you that they go to these touristy things, but you've never been there? Go to events that you normally wouldn't. There's all kinds of events in your general area. And meet people who think a little differently from you. One time I was in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and I'd been to this digital nomad women's group, and they were all going to a Holi Festival. Normally I would say no because, you know, I'm not good at talking to strangers, but I ended up going. I was brave. I was a brave girl and ended up being so much fun. And at the end when I was leaving, I was in a tuk-tuk. It's like a three-wheeler used as a taxi. And a tour bus full of people were just staring, shocked, in my paint-splattered face. And then I walked into our hotel room, and my son's eyes almost bulged out of his head because I was covered in multicolored paint from head to toe. Sometimes the best experiences happen when you just say yes. Don't say yes to overextending yourself for people. Say yes to stuff you normally wouldn't do. Back off your speed just a little now. I'm going to relax the shoulders. A little recovery here. I want you to take just one deep breath in through your nose. Really fill up those lungs all the way. And exhale through your mouth. Think about what could you say yes to? What kind of adventure could you create for yourself? Because sometimes, you know, we have to create our own adventure. You can take a different route on your walk and walk somewhere new. Try something you normally wouldn't, a different type of food. Some kind of event you normally wouldn't go to. Just something different, something you haven't experienced before. And it's the little things, even though they can be stressful in their own right, because doing something different is stressful. Like traveling the world, different cultures, different currency, different foods. Like how many times I bought sour cream instead of yogurt because I couldn't read the label. It is stressful, but it's also amazing. And it really helps you grow. And it does make you stronger. So find something in your neighborhood that you could do that's different or even in your general area. Go for a walk and see what's around you. sometimes adventure starts with just the first step, the first walk and your imagination. As I told my daughter when she was young and didn't see something we passed by, look with your eyes, not your butt. Yes, because we are that weird family and sometimes I'll still say it to her. Now we're going to slow it down just a little bit again. Take a deep breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. You want to cool it down a little bit on your own. But just feel how good it feels to move today. If you got in that walk, feel for any tense spots in your body. Make sure your feet aren't gripping the bottom of your shoes. Make sure your shoulders are down away from your ears. If you feel like walking more, put on another episode. You can do a couple of them back to back. Shake out your hands. There's a song that I really love. Actually, there's multiple songs, but there's one by One Republic called "I Lived", and every time I hear that song, it makes me cry. You can see I'm crying again. Maybe it's my age."I'm always crying". And if you do something, let me know. On social media I am yourwalkingpodcast, Show me a picture of your feet, your route, something cool you saw on your walk, and if you enjoyed this walk, hit subscribe, so my next walk is waiting for you. Don't forget, when you're finished, take a couple of minutes to stretch, feels good to get a little stretching in, when your muscles are warm, relax your jaw, relax your hands, shake your groove thing, shake your groove thing, which your groove thing could be your hands, it could be your butt, whatever you feel like, and I'll see you next time.