I Walked Like a Kid Today

Unforced Movement
Moving without trying to improve anything.

I walked like a kid today.

Not completely.

Just enough to notice the difference.

I went out the same way I usually do. Same trail. Same start.

But I didn’t move the same way.

There was no distance in mind. No pace to hold. Nothing I needed to finish.

I just started moving.

The trail was the same as always. Dirt, turns, the kind of path that doesn’t ask much from you.

Then there were boulders.

I usually pass them.

Today I didn’t.

Not the big ones. Just the smaller ones. The kind that don’t make a statement.

I stepped up onto one, stood there for a second, then dropped down.

It wasn’t far. Maybe ten inches.

Still, it felt like I had done something different.

There was a fence a little further down. Leaning slightly.

I put my hands on it and did a few modified push ups.

Then a few dips on a rail that probably wasn’t meant for that.

None of it counted as anything.

That might be why I kept going.

A low branch turned into something to hang from.

Not quite a pull-up. Close enough.

I didn’t think about reps. I didn’t try to improve anything.

I just moved when something made sense to move on.

At one point, the trail dipped downhill.

I jogged it.

Not fast. Not reckless. Just enough to feel a little off balance without losing it.

Like I was borrowing a version of movement I used to know.

Kids don’t seem to decide to exercise.

They just respond to what’s in front of them.

A rock becomes something to step on.

A fence becomes something to use.

Nothing needs to be useful beyond that.

On the way back, I realized I hadn’t measured anything.

No time. No distance. No outcome.

I don’t know if it did anything.

But it didn’t feel like I was trying to get somewhere.

It felt like I was already there.