“More precious than regular maps are the unpublished maps we make ourselves, of our city, our place, our daily world, our life; those maps of our private world we use every day.” — Alexander McCall Smith
Life moves so quick. Wake up in the morning, get ready for work, drop the kids off at school, go to work, come home, relax, and repeat. It seems that we’re always moving from point A to point B — most times around 45 to 70 miles per hour depending on your commute.
The other day, I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a mural that was being painted somewhere in downtown Huntsville. It looked like the night sky swirled with space dust and large planets (of course), and I thought to myself, hey that’s really neat, I wonder where that’s at. Maybe a day goes by, and while I was walking downtown, I encountered it and for some reason it felt like I found Waldo — it was gratifying.
As kids, we thrived on our imagination and created meaning behind the simplest of things or places. The oak tree where Johnny broke his arm, Nolan’s house where we played a game of Kick the Can, the light post on First Avenue where we’d race to with a group of friends and beat them every single time because we knew the shortcut. We were explorers of our neighborhood — constrained to walking or biking.
To our advantage.
Walking allows our brain to actually process the environment around us and discover the details that are missed when driving, or even riding a bike in some instances. It gives someone the chance to even rediscover a city they’ve lived in their entire life. Not to mention, it offers opportunities for us to connect with our neighbors and others in the community. It provides us a talking point with our coworkers or that random person you meet at a coffee shop:
You: “Hey cute girl at the coffee shop, I just saw this really cool art piece the other day downtown wanna go check it out sometime and maybe grab a drink after?”
Her: “Yeah that sounds way more interesting than just grabbing a drink at some bar that I’ve been to a billion other times before.”
I’m just saying.
The next time you’re looking for something to do or want to meet someone, try walking. Walk this way, walk that way, walk any way. Discover and explore your city. Know your locale, and feel like a local.