Name of Tip: Walk It Out
Name: Javonya Ogle, 62
Description: When stressed or having a problem, walk it out. It will calm you, and your whole body will feel so good afterward; you will sleep better, eat better, and feel good all around.
Instructions: Ideally, find a natural place, like a forest, to take a walk. It is here where you can find calmness to deal with things happening in your life. You can make people your forest. If you don’t get along with someone, put them in the forest. That means they won’t bother you, and you won’t bother them because trees don’t go anywhere; they stay still, and you can walk past them. They are there, but they are not in your space. If you have faith, pray while you are in the forest. When no one is listening, God listens to everything.
Learning: It started when I was younger; walking, running, and riding bikes were always my go-to. I like nature and walking. I love trees. I built my forest; I make people my forest. They look like trees—trees everywhere, just trees. If I don’t get along with someone, I put them in a forest. Negative people, people that don’t mean me any good, harm me—they are in that forest. You know how you can walk past a tree, and it’s just still standing there? Yeah, they are in that tree, in my forest, and I must keep it moving.
Once I put someone in the forest, they may stay there forever. They can come out eventually because I may just need to step out of our relationship for a few weeks. In that case, it means I love them; I have love for them. But at that particular time of conflict, they went into my forest because I didn’t want to deal with them, and that’s where they stayed until I was ready to bring them back out.
Being alone when I walk is not so bad because I get peace of mind; I can sort out everything bothering me. It takes me to a different place, a mindset where nobody is there but me. I’m on this journey, and it’s what I make of it. I can take out the bad, good, and ugly. I can put it all together and sort out whatever bothers me. Plus, it’s good exercise. I feel wonderful. I feel like the world is mine. I can conquer anything. I can climb one of these trees that I look at every day. My best tree is the redwood. I would love to hug one of those before I die.
Story: I was upset that my boyfriend cheated on me. He was trying to talk to me; he knew he was wrong. I did not want to talk to him because I was getting angry. So, I just kept walking away from him, saying, “Let me go; I need to do this because I can’t talk to you. I won’t be rational if we talk while I’m feeling how I am feeling.” So, he let me go, and I took a two-hour walk. After walking and coming back, I could sit down and talk calmly with him. I saw what I saw; I know what I know. It is what it is, and I was done. I built my forest; I made him a tree and put him in there. It is where I put all negative people who harm me. I put him aside to keep him from ever bothering me. Now, if I take you out of that forest, you are meant to be out, but if I keep you there, that is where you will stay, and I keep it moving.