Walking and depression-a powerful connection

Walking is something that the human body is meant to do, everyday. Yet walking is something I personally spent years trying to avoid.
First it was the push bike as a child then it became the car as an adult. Walking became something I did as little as possible.
I will admit to circling shopping centre car parks to get as close as possible parks. To reparking the car on the same stretch of road when I could have easily walked. To embarresingly driving my car around the corner maybe 500 metres to buy fish and chips.

Yes, I didn't like walking at all.

After having my first baby, Lily everything changed.
A couple of months had gone by and I was a mess. Depressed, overweight, tired, stressed out and just plain down in every sense of the word.

One day that started out just like any other, a bad nights sleep, an unsettled baby and me swimming in emotions of guilt, negativity, anxiety and hopelessness something snapped.

I was angry, I was frustrated, I was lonely, I felt such anger towards what my life was like and I didn't even really know why.
I stormed off. With tears in my eyes, dishes in the sink and my house a complete mess I went out that front door.
My baby in her pram, packed with every perceivable single thing I could think of, from a first aid kit, to nappies, to bottles to baby clothes.

It wasn't a walk to get somewhere. It wasn't a walk to achieve anything.

It was a walk to get the emotions out of my body and to get me out of that house!

It was about half an hour into that first fast paced walk that I began to notice it.
That I began to notice the feeling that this walk was creating.

The wind blew through my hair like it was blowing away the tired, drained and over emotional feelings that had clouded my days and left me feeling so low.

I began to feel the gentle warmth of the sun on my skin and I could feel a little of the cloud that had been following me around lifting just enough to let peeks of sunny blue skies in.

That was all it took for me. I was hooked on walking. Everyday it was my part of the day. Every single walk led me to feel that little bit better, think that little bit clearer and return to the happy, bubbly woman I once was; and 6 months later my feel good walks had transformed me.

I was happy, I had energy, I was no longer feeling depressed at all and amazingly I had lost 28kilo's in weight!! Just from walking.

And the very best part was my baby was with me the whole time and my baby had loved the walks too. It became our special active time together. We laughed, we sang and talked about what we saw as we walked. We walked to parks, shops and the beach. We walked through national parks, along rivers and all sorts of scenic trails.
We wore out 2 prams, 2 stroller's and a toddler bike in those early years and now today she walks with me as we puch her new baby sister in her first pram.

Walking might not be the quickest or the snazziest way to lose weight. It might not be your first idea for exercising when you decide to go a health kick and it absolutely might not be something you at first think you might ever enjoy but it is something we should all make more time for in our lives.

Walking is something that is not just good for the body but for the soul also.

Rebecca x

Walking works!

Read my whole story in my inspirational book that I wrote to share my experiences and help other mothers

The Pram Diet