A long walk with no particular destination

Tyler Tang, Scop.io

How do you feel about the title of this post? Some people love to go for a long walk. Many famous people have gone for long walks every day, just to think. Other people walk for exercise: it doesn't matter where they go as long as they keep moving. And some people walk because it's a good way to get where they want to go.

Someone asked me today to talk about how to successfully be in a relationship with your partner or family while under quarantine. I am suspicious that what you are feeling now is what you feel when you go for a long walk together. 

Humour me. Think of your partner or one person who is living with you in isolation from the rest of the world. Have you ever been for a walk with this person? What did you like about it and what was difficult? Did you get in sync and did you have the same need to talk or to walk in silence? Did you walk one behind another or side by side? What made this walk worth remembering (because you are remembering it)?

If you are happy to take off for a long walk going nowhere, then you're well on the way to successful isolation days: they almost all feel like a long walk without a destination. But if you have a hard time walking together, you'll need to think about what you can change.

And that's the difficult part: you can't change the other person. You can only decide what you will do. Will you let them charge off ahead while you listen to your playlist and watch your step? Will you listen first (even though they might not listen back)? Will you ask them to speed up or slow down so that you can both walk at a comfortable pace? 

The answer depends in part on why you started walking together. 

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