It takes 20 minutes to walk a 20-minute mile
The pace of life, podcast recs, and the most recent movie I watched
I decided to take a walk.
I do this most days now, as a way to keep my body in motion, to clear my mind, to get out of the house (since I work from home).
If I walk the outside loop of my neighborhood it’s just feet short of an even mile.
Some days I use it as a time to meditate or practice mindfulness. Other times I’ll listen to a podcast. And, occasionally, I let my brain wander wherever it wants to go.
Yesterday, I picked an audiobook I’m trying to finish before the library loan is up.
My mind was wandering a bit, switching between thinking about things to get done and hearing the words of the story coming through my earbuds.
Somewhere around 15 minutes into my walk, my brain snapped back to full awareness of the present moment, and I thought, “Why am I still walking? Why am I not back home yet?” A tinge of impatience colored the thought. I apparently wanted to be done with my mile walk.
And instinctively, from a deeper place, the response arose from within me:
”Because it takes 20 minutes to take a 20-minute walk.”
I set out to go for a mile walk.
Not a mile run.
Not to check something off my list.
Not to be able to say I went on a walk.
I found myself almost chuckling at the realization that I wanted to more efficiently get done with a walk. It does sound ridiculous, even as I read it back to myself now.
Things take the time they take.
I could have chosen to get those elbows pumping, lengthen my stride, raise my heart rate a little — until the walk would no longer a walk. It would be a jog. Or a run. These aren’t bad things, I do them on occasion. But the moment you change something, it ceases to be the thing it was.
It’s left me wondering: what other 20-minute walks am I trying to optimize, inflicting the violence of efficiency, and changing their very nature? I’m on the lookout.
“The acceleration of our collective pace of life…
…is not a result of stupidity or irrationality; rather, it is a symptom of what is perfectly predicted by the prisoner’s dilemma at a global scale: Hyperrational individuals making hyperrational decisions on how to spend their time by launching into an inescapable arms race of productivity. Burnout is inevitable….We’re playing a rigged game, and every time we do, our pace of life accelerates, and the world moves faster.”
An article from 2019, “We’re Optimizing Ourselves to Death,” came to mind later in the day. The quote above is from that article. As is this one:
“Attempts by companies like Google or Freshly to create services that save you time misfire, as millennials see them not as services that will give them more time to relax, but as services that will increase the amount of time they’re available to work.”
I resembled that quote (and not just because I’m a geriatric millennial), in my honest feeling of “Why am I not done with this walk yet?”
Some things aren’t intended to be optimized, only experienced. Some things shouldn’t be hacked, only brought into unaltered presence. And still, some things can be hacked but we might be wise to resist the temptation. As the saying goes, “We realized we could, but never considered whether we should.”
I wonder, what would you put on the list of things that we need to be more present to and experience unencumbered by notions of efficiency, maximization, and productivity?
Maybe the summer lulls me into a more slumberous existence, causing me to slow my pace, temper my efforts. I say this because in a previous dispatch, one week shy of exactly two years ago today, I quoted Kurt Vonnegut:
[When Vonnegut tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope] Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore. (emphasis mine)
Podcasts
You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes, “Rainn Wilson Returns” This is a wild conversation. Yes, it’s largely about spirituality and religion—but likely different from any other one you’ve experienced. Content warnings abound.
Don’t Ask Tig, “Allison Janney” This is the first episode of Tig’s podcast I’ve listened to. Just delightful, in part due to the wonderful Allison Janney. Great laughs and good friendship here.
On Being, “What if We Get This Right?” Ayana Elizabeth Johnson with Krista Tippett in a re-listen, always timely, on the topic of our ecological future. “We are not in the natural world—we are part of it.”
The Soundtrack Show, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: the Music Part 1” Our family is going to an outdoor performance of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as they play the music of Harry Potter. I’ve listened to a handful of episodes of this podcast before, but never this one, which felt like a perfect warmup to the ISO concert.
Links to Check Out
“Setting Goals That Work For You, Not Against” (Article) Really good and simple post. Has sent me off reading more about flow vs. clutch states.
Built to Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully (Book) by Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett.
Essential Reading: Celebrating Juneteenth (Articles) The holiday may be over, but the learning and the work is not done.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Movie) Just as visually striking as the first movie, a compelling story, and great script. Anyone who still thinks that cartoons are just for kids should watch these movies. Four out of five stars.
“Why Build a Personal Library?” All of a sudden, I have a desire to gather back all the books I’ve gotten rid of over the years, and to learn how to build custom bookshelves. Good thing I still have plenty of piles around here.
This dispatch was written to music, including the 2022 album “Revealer” by Madison Cunningham. The song “Life According to Raechel” is a truly great song.
Gardening. I am always rushing. This is NOT the purpose in gardening. I will try to do better!