Ditch the news. Take a walk.

I haven’t been blogging much lately—not for a lack of things to think about. More likely because of a surfeit. Every time I imagine sitting down to write, I am overwhelmed by the things that gnaw at me—the pandemic, Jack’s cancer (he’s doing well), the unravelling of the country I used to call home—without coming up with a single original thought.

I can say that I’m awfully glad to be where I am, and that—although Canada has made missteps along the way and our outcomes leave much to be desired— I have no doubt that decisions are being made with minimal political self-interest and with our best interests in mind. At the moment, that seems like a gift in itself. But I do worry a lot about what’s happening south of the border and what it means to the world, as well as to my friends and family who live there.

Jack and I have always begun our day with coffee in the living room sometime before 7:00, sometimes chatting, sometimes realizing we have nothing to say but enjoying the ritual anyway. Toward the end of my second cup, I wander off to my computer where I read several newspapers and do several crossword puzzles. (Ditto Jack, but he reads from his iPad and does sudokus.) This has been known to take me all the way to 10:30. And into a sustained state of anxiety.

At the same time, I seemed to have lapsed into a kind of listless lethargy that had me staring at the clock somewhere around mid afternoon and deciding I really “didn’t have time” for a walk before returning to my book or some trivial household task. Or, god hep me, more news. (Time is not really in short supply in my life right now.)

Something had to change. So I have established a new morning routine. I’m not good at routines. (How many times have I started a journal?) But I do hope I can maintain this.

The coffee ritual stays. But for the last few weeks, I have been limiting myself to one newspaper before heading off for an hour’s walk. (I know, I know. But I couldn’t go cold turkey.) I try to be walking by eight. By the time I get home around nine, the rest of the day’s news is less compelling.

Here’s today’s walk.

When I reach the end of my driveway, I can follow the road along the river in either direction. I usually make a decision based on the ripples on the water, preferring to walk home with the wind at my back. That decision will probably reverse when the heat of summer arrives. And maybe that will convince me to forego even my single newspaper and enjoy the cool of very early morning.

Today, I turned right. It was a cloudy morning, and cool. But the polar vortex that turned May into November last week has passed and it’s feeling like spring again.

In both directions, I’ve been seeing more ducks on the river than usual this year. (Ah–maybe that’s because it’s 8:30 am not 2:30 pm.) The only ducks I saw today were males—too fast for my camera—so I wondered if the ducklings have hatched. Farther along, I scared up a pair of geese and their goslings, four I think, another suggestion that I may see ducklings soon.

I’ve been talking this walk for more years than I can count. I prefer walking in this direction—fewer houses, fewer cars (today I saw one)— but after about a mile, the road veers away from the river and follows the bush. I hesitate to turn with the road because bears are frequently sighted along that stretch, and at this time of year they are still hungry and have their cubs with them. So, I usually turn back here, which makes this walk shorter than I’d like.

In the last week, I’ve been continuing straight along the river where there’s an on-again, off-again tractor path. It’s a neighbour’s hay field, and they probably won’t want me to do this once the crop is really growing. But for now, it’s perfect. Just me, the river, and the fields.

Since I began this new routine, my fitbit tells me I’m taking longer to walk the same distance—about 5 k. Instead of seeing that as a sign of diminished fitness, as I would have a year ago, I’m seeing it as a sign of increased attentiveness. And when I get home, I treat myself to a third cup of coffee and finish reading the news. Sometimes. Today, I wrote a blog post instead. I don’t suppose I’ve missed much.

It’s Sunday, though, so I will tackle the crosswords.