We want to help you in your self-care practice, and to keep reminding you that this is important. Keep remembering to take care of yourself, and to keep doing the best you can. We’re here for you.

This week’s tip is really easy. Well, in theory at least! Everything is easy if you remember to do it, and can fit it into your schedule.

For this week, we want to encourage you to take a walk.

Just that.

Don’t worry about hitting a specific pace. Or going any specific distance. Unless those are things that make you happy also. Just enjoy it.

I know some of our members get in a lot of steps at work, running from libraries to classrooms and back all day long. It’s a lot! And some of us are more sedentary. We are pretty much in one place all day long – unless we make some deliberate decisions to get some walking done.

So, try to do that.

Take a quick break at some point in your day, to just walk around and look at things. Take five minutes. Ten minutes. An hour. What works for you is the right choice.

It would be ideal if you could do this walking around someplace where you are looking at green and natural things – trees, plants, even lakes. This can help you to lower anxiety, stress, blood pressure – all kinds of good things.

If you can’t make time during your work day, and even if you can, maybe walk a little bit in the morning before you head to work. Maybe take a short stroll in the evening. Do you have kids and/or dogs? Take them too! (That may be less relaxing; but maybe it’s a bonding activity to increase everyone’s happiness.) Get outside at night, and look up at the stars.

Walking can help you to drop stress, to change your perspective on stressful things happening in front of you.

If doing some cardio is helpful to you, walking can be a good way to make that happen.

If just getting a break, getting away from it all, is good for you, walking is a way to make that happen.

We want you to keep taking care of yourself. Working in a library is tough, but we are all in on this together. We are here, as a community, working to get through time time together. And we can do it!