3. Create Weekly Fun and Adventure

Fresh Air Self Care FOR ALL: Walking Every Week Course

So you have taken your first walks and learned how to find paths near you. Perhaps in the process you feel like you have found the 2-3 paths that meet your needs for a rudimentary routine of weekly walks. If so, maybe you need go no further.

Sometimes such routines are not resilient enough to comfortably maintain weekly walks through changes in the season (or in your hiker). And we think that the increased opportunities to improve your own health and well-being in the process are just too good to pass up. If you agree, then read on!

Creating resilient routines

To create a more resilient routine, you must first find the day(s) of the week that work best for your hiker. We advocate for at least a weekly walk - this is the minimum to really help your hiker to build familiarity and comfort with the routine.

Even better - a routine of two walks per week! Having a backup day helps in case the weather is unfavorable, or other issues crop up.

Consider the specific day of the week when a walk might work best for your hiker.

  • Over the weekend for a caregiver looking to keep their hiker busy when not at school
  • On a Wednesday for a teacher who wants to break up the week.
  • On whatever day another community outing is planned, to simplify transportation for a class of students

For example, We like to walk with Margot on weekends and days off, to help break up days that otherwise risk becoming boring.

Also consider the specific time of the day when a walk might work best for your hiker

  • Maybe in the morning because they have the most energy?
  • Maybe in the middle of the day to provide a break?
  • Maybe towards the end of the day when they struggle to concentrate on other tasks?

One of Margot's preferred times to walk is 9 or 10 AM on a Saturday or Sunday. This allows her to wake up slowly, and then breaks up a morning spent lounging around the house. In the summer, this time also helps her to avoid the heat of mid-day (which makes her VERY uncomfortable).

Whether your path is close by or farther can factor into your choice. For some, a longer break might be more disruptive... for others, the longer drive might help them to reset or to recharge during a boring day.

You might adjust the specific time of the day for your walk based on the weather.

  • Maybe shift the specific time because of the weather that day (perhaps to avoid a rainstorm)?
  • Maybe in the morning during the summer when it is cooler? Or the afternoon during the winter when it is warmer?

But in the end, this routine may really be for your benefit! When routines are disrupted, it is more likely due to the hiker's partner, not the hiker. So whatever routine is put in place must work with your schedule.

Stretching your hiker's comfort zone

In the long-term, you will give your hiker the most choices and help them to maintain a walk of at least once a week by carefully increasing the range of conditions your hiker is comfortable with. This is key to building their resilience!

There are at least six conditions you should keep in mind. These include

  • How long you walk for
  • The type of path
  • Whether the path you walk is a familiar or unfamiliar one
  • The weather
  • Your hiker's general mood and energy levels that day

In each case, you will be slowly stretching your hiker's comfort zone one condition at a time, just as you did to increase the length of walks.

Most people unintentionally begin to create a routine by choosing to walk on a limited range of paths. Your hiker immediately becomes comfortable once they recognize where you are and what you will be doing.

In general, we recommend that you aim to have at least 3-5 paths that you regularly walk on, with some that are easier and some that are harder. This really helps those hikers who risk getting "stuck" in very rigid routines and who react strongly to ANY change.

In general, we think that it is good to sometimes try new paths. It can help break up a routine that risks becoming stale. So make a list of other paths you want to try that are potentially in (or just beyond) your hiker's comfort zone. Then before each hike, ask yourself "is this a good day to try something different?"

When you try a new path, keep other conditions constant: i.e., don't try a new path when your hiker is not in a good mood or when they might be uncomfortable with the weather.

How would you stretch your hiker's comfort zone to include more varied weather conditions? Just keep all other conditions constant!

  • Check that your hiker is in a good mood
  • Choose a path that they are very familiar and comfortable with.
  • And recognize that sometimes the issue is not the weather but the change in clothing.

Monitor your hiker's happiness and confidence during the walk to see if these change relative to their baseline (i.e., what you typically see). Then walk at least two more times under these new conditions.

If your hiker is as happy and confident under these new conditions as they were before, then you have successfully stretched their comfort zone.

If your hiker is not comfortable, you might have introduced too big a change. In the case of the weather, for example, a day that is 5 degrees warmer might be ok, while 10 degrees might be too much. Adjusting the days of the week when you walk during the change of seasons to avoid more extreme weather conditions can help your hiker transition comfortably into fall or winter.

Once you have stretched their comfort zone, you can now safely assume they will always be comfortable under these conditions when you plan your hikes, as long as you maintain a routine of weekly walks. If there is a break in that routine, you can quickly help your hiker become comfortable with these conditions using these same steps.

Even though you cannot control your hiker's mood and the weather, you can still use this comfort zone to help adjust to unexpected changes. For example, you might decide to do a shorter or easier path on a day when the weather or your hiker's mood might make them more uncomfortable on their hike. Likewise, an especially gorgeous day is a great opportunity to try a new trail, especially if your hiker is in a great mood!

At the beginning of this section, I said there were 6 conditions but listed only 5. The 6th may be the most important: Your comfort! Sometimes the biggest barrier to trying something new is not your hiker but you!

Those who have cared for someone with I/DD or ASD can become risk-averse because of experiences when things went wrong. So don't trying introducing new conditions for a hike on a day when YOU are uncomfortable. As you stretch your own comfort zone with your hiker, you will start to see new paths not as risks to be avoided but as adventures that await you! You are in effect making yourself more resilient.

Ready for other kinds of adventures?

So far, we have focused primarily on walks in nature as a way to improve the health and quality of life of people with IDD... but in the process, we have discovered other benefits

Walks in nature also help our own mental and physical health! It helps to keep us get moving outside and to do something together. When Margot is not in a great mood or the weather is especially unfavorable, we will sometimes still complete a walk together except that Margot rides in her Wike.

The routines created for walking also work well for other outdoors activities you might try together... like biking! You can use the same behavioral science approach to extend a comfort zone down into the dead of winter, with the right equipment (in this case, a sleeping bag, good gloves and boots, and a heated vest for a 5 degree day).

Walking opens up new opportunities for vacations. For some people with IDD, vacations can be very disruptive to routines that normally keep people with IDD active and engaged during the day. Sometimes a disrupted routine can ruin a vacation, especially when key routines of daily life (like bedtime) are affected. A walk is one of the easiest activities to transfer - you just need to identify the right places to walk (like this challenging trail in Ohiopyle State Park). The online search tools reviewed in the previous module can be really helpful here in identifying potential trails to try.

Walks do not have to be confined to the country - city walks are great ways to break up the day, like this walk with Grandma on New York's storied High Line.

As we will discuss in the next course - Walking Everywhere - someone who becomes comfortable walking longer distances for fun can begin to walk longer distances for work, perhaps even to help with deliveries.

And of course walks may provide a great opportunity for peers or friends or family to do an activity together with your hiker, like Margot walking here with her aunt Carrie.

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