There are prizes in life, though we don’t always earn them, or deserve them when we get them. Who wants the prize of being the last one out of the office every night?

Walking can be a prize, when the act of going for a walk is the reward you’ve saved for yourself for accomplishing some task or other. I’ve had days when I’ve been churning and working away at something, expending mental energy to complete a task at a deadline. I’ve been bursting with physical energy but have kept at the task at hand because it had to be completed by a deadline.

The release of walking afterwards, of paying myself back with the reward of a walk, has been very satisfying. You know when you have earned something, by saving for it. You’ve set a goal and achieving it is the prize.

Walking as a goal is that feeling of reward, and it’s more than that too. The prize of release from your desk is a part of it. The other part is being able to uncoil, stretch your legs, open your mind and senses to a different set of surroundings, and shift mental gears. Walking as a goal means appreciating that the act of going for a walk is a prize worth having. It can also mean that a walk of a certain kind is part of that goal – setting the target of walking 10 km, 20 km, or more – and then achieving it.

I like these kinds of walks, where I make a plan and I do it. It’s purposeful walking and its satisfying.