“The Problem Itself is Small Potatoes” John Peterson on Walking and Putting Things in Perspective

“The walks met a need: they were a release from the tightly regulated mental environment of work, and once I discovered them as therapy, they became the normal thing, and I forgot what life had been like before I started walking.”

—Teju Cole, Open City (2011)

It’s exciting to think that just by taking a walk, we are following in the footsteps of some of the most admired thinkers and writers of all time (see what I did there?).  Just by putting one foot in front of the other (too easy to resist), we can significantly boost our creativity, relieve anxiety, problem-solve more effectively, and improve our memory–walking enhances our cognitive and emotional well being on all levels.  Nietzche is just one among many thinkers who has expressed the sentiment that “all truly great thoughts are conceived while walking,” and recently a copious amount of research suggests this is because walking allows the mind to wander, without requiring our full attention, which leads to divergent thinking (a free flowing thought process that generates creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions)

 PWR lecturer John Peterson is someone who knows the benefits of walking, and he’s the reason I’ve been reading about these benefits and the “science” of walking.  John has been actively pursuing walking as a daily activity for a long time now, and he’s aware of how powerful his practice is. It wasn’t until John shared his passion for walking that I followed up and learned the coolest things I’ve ever heard about walking (e.g., walking increases what neuroscientists call “spontaneous cognitive fluctuations,” and there is a psychology of “mind wandering”–yes, go read about these fascinating things!). I’m grateful I had the chance to correspond with John about his good habit, which pushed me to follow up on the neural reasons for why walking is so wonderful. Below you can read some of our conversation, and enjoy a few inspiring photos from John’s walks:

Can you tell us a bit about how you got into walking in the way you do?  And also, do you walk alone, and prefer that?  Or with others? 

I’ve been a runner my whole life. My dad went jogging every day, and I liked to tag along when I could. Then I was on the track team in high school. Then I would run in 30 below temps when I lived in Fairbanks. Nowadays my body likes it better when I walk a lot more than running. Since I go every day, most of the time I’m alone.

What do you most enjoy about the walks?  Do your walks contribute to problem solving, creativity, enhanced mood or better memory?  If so—to any of these—could you describe a walk where something kind of big happened?

I like this list of benefits of walking! I benefit in all those ways. But here is a great benefit. I have a habit to be anxious. And I am always trying to figure stuff out in my head, so I will do a bunch of work at home right after I wake up, then I go for a walk and start to problem solve some of the stuff that I was working on. I’m always in a better mood afterward, which really helps with memory. 

I love going walking on The Dish next to campus. The best thing that happens is when I go out there and all of sudden remember this nagging thing that’s been bugging me for weeks. It’s bugged me so much that I’ve just been stuffing in down, you know, in denial just to stop thinking about it. Then it pops into my head while I’m cresting a beautiful ridge and the Bay comes into view. At that moment I realize that this thing that’s been bugging me is 99% just my attitude toward the thing. Because the problem itself is small potatoes. I love it when I realize that. Like they say, puts things in perspective.

What's the most surprising or memorable thing that ever happened to you on one of your walks?                                      “Most” is a strong word.  Because I’ve had a lot of great things happen on walks. But the craziest thing was when this other walker came up behind me and asked me about a mole on my neck. She said she was a dermatologist, and it looked like melanoma. She said it looked small and that she’s had patients she’s treated with something that small, and said it was totally treatable. I told her it was a spot I actually had biopsied like 15 years before, and it was clean. She said that sometimes moles change. Then she walked away, and I’ve never seen her since. I went to a dermatologist, had it biopsied, and it was melanoma.  They asked me why I came in to have it looked at,  and I told them this story of the mysterious stranger on my walk. Now that story is in my medical record. A surgeon took over and found all sorts of trouble spots that looked like melanoma. I went into the hospital, had lymph nodes removed, had other moles removed, the whole nine yards. Turns out none of what they removed tested positive. Apparently, all the melanoma was removed when they did the initial biopsy.

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Wow. Kierkegaard seems to capture this story of John’s: 

“I walk myself into a state of wellbeing, and walk away from every illness,” he wrote to Henrietta Lund.  

Thank goodness John Peterson took that walk, that day–meeting that mysterious stranger!  Mysterious strangers… just one more reason to get out there and walk.  :)