We'd been warned. Those obsessed with tracking the weather told us that a very cold front was on its way and due today.
They weren't wrong. 🥶
I slept well and woke well, and got up to greet the sun. I piled on cozy layers, dragged thick socks onto my feet and ventured into the kitchen.
One big glass of water later, consumed in front of a wide open window, and I was almost ready to walk. I added a few more layers and topped it off with shoes for my feet, a small pack for my back, and I headed out the door.
It was so cold my nose hurt.
I wasn't expecting that. Cold air to breathe in, yes. Crisp, fresh, beautiful air, yes. But my nose!
To be fair, my bare fingers also retracted into my long sleeves refusing to actively participate in this walk. I checked my phone, consulting one of the weather apps to see what number correlated with this coldness I was perceiving. 8'C feels like 4'C.
"I'd believe it," I said to no one but cold air around me.
Screenshot from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) App.
I turned on my watch and started walking straight up the hill, looking back periodically over my shoulder to take in the bright orange rising sun ☀️ Then I promptly disappeared into the bush.
I knew I wanted the exercise, to get out in the bush, to embrace the cold of the incoming winter and get lots of morning light in my eyes. But I also missed my tapping walks, those moving solo therapy sessions that I'd accidentally discovered 9 years ago and immediately fallen in love with.
I walked, breathing cold air into my nose, and I thought of the things that had been bothering me that I was ready to let go of. And I tapped, or rather rubbed my cold finger tips against the meridian points they could reach on their neighbouring fingers. 🖐️
It started working immediately, evident by the over sized yawns that wanted to escape my mouth as a way of my body ejecting old energy it no longer needed to hold onto.
I walked down the wide path, watching the sun rise ahead of me, spotting a quiet wallaby off to one side, my only company in the cold. I tapped. I yawned. I breathed in air through my still-cold nose. 👃
And I remembered, yet again, quickly, fondly, why I adore solo tapping walks so much. They are so restorative, so easy to do, so effective. Halfway through my short walk my body tells me where done; no more processing old emotions, pesky thoughts or subconscious beliefs this morning. So I change tack and re-orient to my beautiful surroundings, spotting even more tiny wallabies hiding amongst the tall native grass. 🦘
Screenshot from Garmin Connect App. The distance I covered, alone, cold and grateful in the bush this morning.