Walking for Achievement
One of the things that contributes to our well-being is achievement. An achievement is not the sort of thing that pops into existence. Instead, it results from a process and culminates in a product. The product might be inherent to the process, for example, a dance performance is both a process and a product. Moreover, an achievement is difficult. If it were easy, it would not be an achievement. But more is needed than that. An individual must make some contribution. That is, the process needs to produce the product.
Achievements are valuable when they are a product of our capacity to overcome difficulty to obtain an intrinsically worthy goal. Every human being has a will, and this is required in every activity we engage. Yet, engaging in challenging activities requires that we excel in exercising our will. It follows that challenging activity is intrinsically valuable because it is an excellent exercise of the will to engage in inherently valuable and challenging activities. In other words, by exercising our will to engage in these activities, we contribute to our well-being by developing, exercising, and perfecting one of our essential human capacities. Walking, in this context, is not just a mundane activity but a significant achievement.
According to many, walking, at least for the able-bodied, is a mundane accomplishment, not an exceptional achievement. Riding a bike, jogging, and navigating public transport are all activities that, at least on the face of it, require more physical exertion or physical discomfort. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which walking is an achievement, even if it may not be exceptional like writing the great American novel or running a marathon. To the extent that walking is an exercise of our will, walking may be considered an achievement, however small. Walking requires effort and perseverance, especially compared to alternative modes like the car. In other words, walking is a testament to our willpower. If walking becomes one’s prominent mode of mobility by choice, it requires the willpower to sustain this choice, making it a significant achievement in our daily lives.
If achievement is a process and a product, characterized by difficulty, willpower, and the intrinsic value of the activity, walking manifests all these components: it is a process—walking, it is a product—the walk, it requires willpower, and it has intrinsic value—that is, it has value in and of itself. If walking were merely instrumental, that is, to get from A to B, then it would not be superior to other travel modes in terms of well-being. Yet walking is an activity that, in its ideal form, produces all kinds of unique benefits, like sociability, knowledge, understanding, and creativity. It is, therefore, not just a mundane activity, but an intrinsically valuable achievement worth pursuing for its unique benefits. Where will you walk today?
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