Walk the pod
At the beginning of the second UK lockdown, I wanted to go for walks in my lunch break. But somehow didn’t.
I don’t know what happened.
I’d be working, and it was easy enough to do a little more work when it hit noon. Before I knew it, my ‘lunch break’ was over and I was still at my desk.
In the mornings, it was dark and cold. By the time the working day was over, it was pitch black outside. Not very inviting.
Lunchtime was the time to take a break – but how to get away from my desk?
I put a sign up in my bedroom which said, “you’ll feel better if you go for a walk this morning” with a smily face. ‘This is bordering on madness’ I thought to myself, but perhaps it will work.
It didn’t.
I changed the sign. Now it said, “They don’t pay you enough not to look after yourself.”
No change.
‘I wish I had a dog’, I mused to myself one evening as I was contemplating this abject failure to do something simple to look after myself. But I’m not allowed pets at my flat.
Then it hit me.
If I had another commitment to walk, I would have to go, wouldn’t I?
I thought about all the people I knew who might walk with me. None of my friends live close enough.
Nope, I would have to create a commitment for myself.
And so I started a podcast called ‘Walk the pod.’ I walk my podcast at lunch time because I don’t have a dog.
I’ve been for a walk at lunchtime every day since.
It’s now possible to play music as part of a podcast, and this project runs on Spotify. I choose tracks to play in between rambles.
If you have Spotify premium you’ll hear full tracks in between the bits where I’m talking about dogs I can see in the park. If you don’t, you’ll get a random 30 seconds of each song. But enough to know why I’ve picked them. The playlist is largely dependent on my mood and the weather. Today I’m going to be playing Beyoncé.
It’s not so much a comedy project as a mental health project, but it is funny.
Have a listen. I hope that it will help you to walk as much as it’s helping me.