I have always liked walking and hiking in nature. I have great memories of my family and me hiking all over France during the summers when my brothers and I were kids. When I arrived in the Netherlands for my studies, I lost the habit of walking because biking was always easier. I did not hike either, as the Netherlands is a pretty flat country and there are not many, if any, hiking spots. I was biking everywhere: to go grocery shopping, to go on campus, to go to the city center and so on, even when the distances were walkable. At first, it did not impact me and I felt like “winning time” by choosing to take my bike instead of going to places on foot. But at some point, I realized I was missing something; I was not taking time to walk and was always biking, at speed.

A few months ago, I was close to burning out. I felt particularly stressed and overwhelmed. I had a lot of things to do and had a lot on my mind. I talked to my flatmate to relieve myself of everything I had on my mind, and she proposed going for a walk together around the lake near our apartment. We walked 5 km around the lake and discovered hidden spots that we had never seen or explored before, even though we had been living near this lake for more than a year. We were always used to going to the same area of the lake by bike, which means we knew only a small part of the big area the lake covered.

This walk also allowed me to relieve myself of my stress and concerns. Walking and taking time to think about themhelped me take a step back and relax. I was stressing too much about meaningless things. And I rediscovered the calm I found when I was hiking with my family in France when I was younger.

Now, I go to the lake at least twice a week, either to go for a run or a walk and recharge my batteries and just think about everything but my to-do lists or my concerns. I really saw a difference: I was more relaxed, less stressed and tense.

I can now confidently say that one of the habits that has had the biggest positive impact on my wellbeing is walking or running in nature

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