The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)
Wasn&#x27;t this already posted on hackernews? I&#x27;ve already read it, and I was a little curious because that&#x27;s a little what I started to do last year (my apartment and school started to feel like a prison cell).<p>I just walk in my city to explore, preferably greener, quiet areas without car traffic, but I always plan a zone I&#x27;ll go to. I use offline openstreetmap (OSMAND) on my smartphone. I try to go to different places when I can, but it&#x27;s difficult as green places are too remote. Public transport can boost me, but I usually take off from home and try to make a looped route.<p>To me it helps &quot;loosening&quot; my focus, so I can think a little more creatively. I just talk with myself. I don&#x27;t have a time where I know I have to go home, I don&#x27;t plan. Walking is a physical exercise (at least for me, I sleep better), which make the blood flow, so you&#x27;re not as much anxious when you sit for too long.<p>I don&#x27;t want to sound like a crazy hobo, but cubicles, houses, apartments and dense urban areas can feel like prisons. It&#x27;s not just about the physical exercise, it&#x27;s about being in the large outdoors and not controlling your behavior because there are civilized people around you. If all you do is work and gym, it won&#x27;t feel very good.<p>Maybe all of this is in my head, and my unconscious just pretends it&#x27;s good. But I know that I can&#x27;t be creative at home.<p>Also try to watch that speech about creativity by the monty python head guy. He gave really good insights about how to put oneself in a position where you can be creative. You need large spaces, relative silence, freedom from behaving like you want, etc.