I find it hard to completely shut it down when the school year ends. My mind has never been wired that way. Don't get me wrong, I make sure to carve out "me time" and some of that "me time" comes in the form of personal and professional development. One of the ways I recharge over the summer while still remaining intellectually stimulated is by listening to podcasts while I walk.
My listen & learn walks are something I put into practice about three years ago. I am not one for walking on the treadmill in the gym, if I can avoid it. So it helps that I'm lucky enough to live on a beautiful boarding school campus with a loop road I can traverse daily. On a typical summer day I will complete four to six loops around campus while listening to to one of the many podcasts I've subscribed to. My podcasts subscriptions typically fall into a few categories:
leadership • parenthood • ADHD/executive functioning • writing/writers • race (including mixed race/interracial experiences, conversations with successful people of color) • education • women • self-care • conversations with people who've embraced life, followed their dreams, overcome adversity, embarked on a changes of course, own being unapologetically themselves, and/or taken a leap of faith
I walk my way to takeaways I can apply to my life, my career and to parenting. My takeaways may come in the form of a book recommendation, an classroom activity I can incorporate into a lesson plan, a way to approach a tricky conversation or diffuse a situation, a parenting technique, lessons learned from another's journey, or just more food for thought.
While listening to podcast on my walks started as an alternative to listening to music (sometimes you get tired of your own playlists), I feel like it's now an important part of my personal growth and professional development and well-being. Some fresh air, exercise, and mental stimulation goes a long way in doing a body good.
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