/feels/ - personal experiences

Sometimes you have clearly defined problems in front of you and you know there is nothing you can do to solve them. Distraction (games and other junk type time sinker fun) is the best remedy in these cases, in fact, going for a walk is one of the worst things to do, because bad things come to your mind. Some times numbing yourself from the pain is acceptable.

I do the same pretty frequently, usually when it's already dark. I really enjoy them and I think it helps with my mental health. Some people do the same with more active exercises, especially running, some do awareness meditation and others write journals.

But I also agree with the other poster, distraction is probably the most popular defense against the cosmic terror of our overdeveloped intelligence, no wonder Schopenhauer likened our existence to "a man running downhill, who cannot keep on his legs unless he runs on."

>>903
>in fact, going for a walk is one of the worst things to do, because bad things come to your mind.

Is it really easier to just run away from it all? When something serious or existential comes up for me, the worst thing I could imagine is just running away from facing such a dilemma. When my beliefs or worldview is challenged I am driven to reconcile them. I need to solidify what I know to be true, what I believe to be true, and what I hope to be true. I need to solidify myself, in a way. Otherwise I'd probably just fall into depression again.

Some thing's just can't be dealt with so simply, or solved with introspection, yes, but they can be understood better, and the way I see it a better understanding of what you're facing is one of the most valuable things you can attain.

>>904
It has definitely helped my mental health as well. Any anxiety or worry goes away and sometimes I just stay out until I am legitimately drained emotionally and physically(in a good way). I sleep much more soundly on those nights.

I have often done this, too. just, walk. dark days are especially nice. Sitting alone can be, too, but it becomes claustrophobic for me to remain inside too long. Now, perhaps doing something 'distracting' is sometimes better in times of emotional crisis, and going for a walk is one way to find oneself along side a busy street or alone in the woods with just yourself and a knife, but I find in times like that books, games, things, people are often hard to engage with. I just dont care. A walk is something to do. It doesnt always work perhaps as well as it could, but hey, thats a bad situation, literally any effort to deal with it is probably at best going to leave it bad, simply, ideally less bad, and less dangerous.

And the clouds, they can be so beautiful.

I worry though, for sometimes I find myself walking, alone in cities at night. My habit when walking is to learn shortcuts, alleyways and narrow paths, and to use them whenever I am travelling. Paths like that arent always lit, at least not where I have lived. I am not a big person, nor strong nor terrifically fast on my feet, especially over rough stones, and irregular sidewalk. So far I have been spared from except slightly startling situations, and perhaps it is just my paranoia that imagines sinister motives and opportunistic sensibilities onto any dark silhouette.

>>908
I live in a ridiculously safe suburban area, so many times I don't even bother to bring my knife for some form of self-defense. But my suggestion is to just be smart about what you would do if you were to be mugged. There's always a motive for someone to attack you.

Wear as simple clothing as you can, and don't carry your wallet. The motive is almost exclusively monetary. Carry your ID and, if you must, carry enough money to be able to use a taxi or buy food but not enough for you to really miss if someone were to stick you up.

Just keeping yourself aware and walking with confident posture marks you off a lot of Offender's target lists, I hear.

On the surface, taking a walk might appear to be a form of escapism, just like the more typical forms such as reading a book or watching a movie or playing a game or any of those other things. However, I think the critical difference is that you cannot easily stop it. Once you're outside, it takes effort to go back inside. The further you have wandered from your home, the longer it will take to get back. When you pick up a book, you can always just put it down and get right back to the task at hand. So, for as long as you're reading your book or playing your game, you are burdened by that feeling that you ought to put it down and get back to work. When you're out for a walk, you can't just put it down. Your work is not at hand. You are separated from it and there's nothing that you can do about it except to walk the other way (or in a loop). In other words, you /have/ to keep doing what it is that you're enjoying doing in order to get to be able to do the real work. In other words, as soon as you put your shoes on and leave your door, walking, unlike reading or gaming, ceases to be a distraction and instead becomes an obligation, something productive. So, that nagging feeling that there is a better use of your time loses its foundation and crumbles, and you are truly free to formulate, to reflect, to let your mind wander, to do nothing other than think and move your legs. For the duration of your walk, you are truly and properly separated from your problems. There is /nothing/ that you can do about any of those problems while you are out for a walk, so you intuitively realize that stressing about them is pointless.

This also sets it apart from more physically strenuous activities such as lifting and cycling, activities in which your attention must, to avoid injury, be focused on the activity itself and cannot be focused inwards.

>>903
I think the opposite. I have learned that distraction does not help in the long run. It may help me feel better in the immediate future (provided I can shake the feeling that I ought to be doing more important things), but it doesn't solve any of the problems that I'm facing. When you ignore your issues, they just pile up.

>>904
I absolutely agree on the mental health aspect. I am certain that being able to take that step back is the only thing that is keeping me from legitimately losing my mind.

>>904
>>908
Night really is the best time for these walks (unless you have access to truly wild paths that require light to safely travel). Night is when the rest of the world around you (or, at least, most of it) is in a state of rest. There is no hustle and bustle around you, so the frantic feeling, the panic, the stress is all drawn away, rather than reinforced, by your surroundings.

Finding opportunities to be outside and alone is crucial to my mental health. I like to take night walks from time to time, or wander aimlessly around my campus on days similar to the one you described. For lunch during the average day at university, instead of sitting in the crowded food court I'll take my food outside and sit on top of a wall near the street, and watch cars pass while I eat. It's imperative that I get a little time in each day to introspect and feel a little closer to the world around me–if I don't have that chance, my lifestyle is so busy that thoughts can get jumbled up quickly and everything becomes unnecessarily stressful.