Description: This week, Dr. Boogren challenges the Self-Care Squad to strengthen our relationships and our bodies. As always, this simple challenge can reap brilliant rewards.
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to episode 32 of Self-Care for Educators. I am your host, Tina Boogren, and this week is a really simple but powerful invitation. And, I've probably talked about this in a few different ways, but I don't think I've been direct in the mandate that I want to give you this week. This week ... Here's what I want you to do. I want you to go for at least one Walk-And-Talk. That can be in-person, side-by-side walking with someone, or it could be via the phone with someone who's walking in their space while you're walking in your space. But, I just want you to do that. I just want you to commit to that. I want you to do that.
So, as many of you know, I love to walk, and I just was spending some time today reflecting on how much a Walk-And-Talk means to me. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love my solo one-on-one walks, which is one of the main ways that I complete my stress-cycle loop and have a little breathing room on my own. But, there's something so powerful about walking with someone else. My husband and I try to, every single morning, go for a walk together if we can. Sometimes my schedule makes that a little bit tricky, but if we can, we do. And, I'm telling you, we have the greatest conversations on those morning walks. There's something about just being outside, away from devices. We have grown so close through our walks over this last year that we've been really, really intentional about this. It's just been really incredible.
And then, the other thing is that this is how I have been staying connected with so many of my girlfriends during quarantine times. Right? We bundle up. We meet, and we go for a walk. One of ... My best friend lives North of me in Fort Collins, and we found a great place to meet in the middle. We walk around this lake. We talk. It is fantastic. I just met another girlfriend today at another park where we went for a nice, long walk. We were walking and talking and not even paying attention, and the next thing we knew, we looked down, and we'd gone about eight and a half miles, which is fantastic. Oh, there's something just, as I said, just incredible about being outside and the conversation just seems to flow so easily, and it feels so good ... and our bodies ... And, you know, as many of us are trying to develop healthier habits and, not just always meeting to sit around and have a drink or sit around and eat food ... It feels so much better for me and my whole life, soul, and body to meet someone to go for a walk.
That's just bringing me so much joy these days that I wanted to just give you that very specific invitation this week. I want you to think about who you could invite to go for a walk, whether that's someone who lives close to you, that you could make that work by walking side-by-side, or maybe it's a Walk-And-Talk. Now, I also know that I am putting this episode out in the middle of winter. This could make things really hard. I do recognize that I, personally ... We just bundle up, and we make it work. There's very, very few days where we refuse to go outside. It always feels brutal to get out there, but when you get the right gear on and once you get out there, it's really exhilarating and feels kind of pretty good, actually. So, if you can get outside, that fresh air feels amazing. I'm going to encourage you to get outside.
Of course, if you've got access to a treadmill, you can do this via treadmill, right? Talking on the phone with someone ... Just make a commitment to take a walk with someone else this week. Oh, please, you guys, take pictures. Report back. Let me know, how do you take this theme and play with it? I can't wait to hear.
As always, a huge thank you to Brooke for making this happen. Thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources for this job I get to do. And as always, of course, you, my bad-ass Self-Care Squad. I am so grateful for you. Happy walking!