The 12 Hour Walk
For those of you who haven’t heard of it, the 12 hour walk is a movement created by by Colin O’Brady, an American explorer and author. The rules are simple, you go on a walk for 12 hours, on your own. You can take your phone with you in case of an emergency, but it must be on airplane mode and all notifications switched off. You must not listen to music or podcasts or audiobooks and you should keep your interaction with other people to a minimum. The idea is to totally disconnect from external distractions and invest one whole day in yourself. It’s just you and your headspace.
I heard about this on a podcast a few months ago and was keen to plan it in as we had been through quite a significant period of change recently and it seemed like a good idea to spend some time trying to process and find some clarity in the many thoughts that were flying around my head.
Colin O’Brady suggests that you should try to begin and end the walk from your home. Luckily we have some stunning scenery and coast line on our doorstep. I set off at 6am, it was a beautiful morning. I instantly started to panic about bumping in to people I knew along the way. I decided I would politely acknowledge them with a quick hello whilst walking briskly past, hoping they wouldn’t think I was too rude.
It hadn’t occurred to me that I might find the walk in anyway difficult, I’m fairly fit, enjoy my own company and the weather was good. It just seemed like a lovely day out. The actual distance you walk doesn’t matter, I had to keep reminding myself of this as after having done many long distance endurance races over the years I naturally wanted to bash out the miles as fast as I could. As I consciously encouraged myself to slow down. I became much more perceptive of my surroundings, a beautiful sunrise, the way the light was falling on the water, the different sounds that I often don’t hear as I am usually listening to a podcast when I am out running or walking.
After about 4 hours of soaking up my surroundings, I realised that I had been putting off thinking about the things that I had specifically wanted to think about on the walk. These were mainly things that I had been pushing to the back of my mind for a long time, but I, like a lot of people, bury some stuff deep inside and instead of dealing with it I let it gnaw at my insides until it keeps me awake at night. During Mental Health Awareness week a couple of years ago I listened to a talk by an ex-police officer. He openly shared his experience of going through a mental breakdown. He used a great analogy of having a backpack full of feelings and emotions and sometimes you need to fully unpack that backback to realise that there is all sorts of sh*t in there from years ago that might be weighing you down. You need to take everything out, have a good look at it, deal with it and throw it out if you no longer need it. If you don’t do this the backpack can start to overflow and become so heavy that you can’t carry it anymore.
During my time on the walk I felt like I had dug to the bottom of my emotional back pack and unpicked some things that I haven’t been able to process for a long time. I didn’t necessarily resolve things, but where I could I accepted them. I realised that I needed to stop wasting time worrying about things that were out of my control and let some stuff go.
Nearing the end of my walk, my feet felt sore and my legs were aching but mentally I felt a lot clearer than I had in a long time.
Having covered about 34 miles and more than 85,000 steps I arrived back home. What hadn’t occurred to me when I set out and decided to wear my barefoot running shoes was that I hadn’t worn them for any significant distance for ages. This meant I spent the entire evening with restless aching legs, not knowing what to do with myself. What was supposed to have been a date night for Jamie and I turned in to a very unromantic evening of him having to apply voltarol to my aching limbs!
Miraculously the next morning my legs and feet felt fine and it was only then that I really thought about what I had achieved and how positive and motivated I was feeling.
Would I recommend doing the walk?
Yes, definitely. There are so many benefits to doing the walk. We all have busy lives, but it’s important every now and again to invest some time in yourself, disconnect from all the technology that takes over our lives, the expectation to pick up your phone every time it rings or immediately respond to an email that’s come through. You, your health and your mindset are all way more important than that stuff.
If you are feeling a bit lost or stuck in a rut, the 12 hour walk might just be the thing that helps you re-focus and regain your mojo. Pick a day, put it in your diary and commit to it. You won’t regret it. It’s something I know I will definitely do again.
What did it make me appreciate?
All of the special people (and dogs) in my life who I know accept me for who I am, who I can rely on and have always got my back
My health
Having the headspace to address things without distraction
Nature and being lucky enough to live in a stunning part of the world
Peace and quiet
What I took with me
A phone which was on airplane mode and all notifications switched off
A waterproof and a lightweight hoodie
Some food (I would say try and take all the food you will need for the full 12 hours so you can avoid the interaction of having to deal with other people in shops)
Lots of water. I took a hydration pouch in my rucksack with and filled it up on my route. Luckily I knew there were some drinking water taps dotted along the path
Sunscreen
