time spent offline

I read Austin Kleon’s Keep Going: 10 Rules for Staying Creative in Good Times and Bad for the third time this year.

It’s that good.

Kleon is one of my favourite writers and bloggers; when I discovered him earlier last year, I read his blog all the way back to 2012 and devoured four of his books in quick succession.

His work is terrific and inspiring, with timeless advice for readers.

I came across the quote demons hate fresh air in Keep Going and it has stuck with me ever since:

No matter what time you get out of bed, go for a walk and then work, [Ingmar Bergman] would say, because the demons hate it when you get out of bed, demons hate fresh air.

I discovered the wonderful joy of going for long walks during one desperate day during quarentine: Who else remembers those long dark days of endless Netflix shows and excessive drinking to compensate for time standing still during quarentine? That fateful day, my ex and I went for what we taught would be a short walk with his dog, and a few blocks in, when he asked if we should start walking back home, I said let’s keep going— I didn’t want to go back inside, and so we kept on walking, block after block, house after house. It was a lot of fun. For the rest of quarantine, we spent most of our days going on long walks, sometimes bike rides, covering four to eight miles each time. We discovered neighbourhoods, parks, restaurants, shops, and chatted with countless strangers; it was a great adventure. Not only did those long walks made our time in quarantine bearable, but it also got us in the habit of daily long walks and it became our most cherished and favourite way to spend time together.

As Henry David Thoreau reminds us, “it is a great art to saunter!”

Going for a walk and immersing my senses in nature is the best way I have found to deal with what Freud eloquently put as common unhappiness or ordinary misery. It is what keeps me going.

A leisurely walk is an antithesis to the blues.

Solo or with your beloved, go for a leisurely walk. Pay attention and notice how amazing the things you are so used to are; the sky, the clouds, the trees; birds chirping and pretty flowers. Leave your phone behind. Besides going for leisurely walks, I try to incorporate walks into my daily commute. If you take public transportation, get off a stop or two before your destination, or park your car a block or two away, and walk the rest of the way— Ignore your phone.

Whatever works for you, find a way to incorporate daily walks into your routine because the demons hate it when you go outside: The demons hate fresh air.