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Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and am not advising that you treat depression yourself. If you are dealing with depression please see a doctor. This post is for informational purposes only and shares only my experience.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-8255
My absolute most favorite thing to do is to walk my dog. I was so sad that most of the time I was pregnant I couldn’t do this. It was so hard for me to walk anywhere, even just around at work, that walking my dog was not really a possibility. My legs and feet were so swollen, and they hurt all the time. I would wake up in the morning with swollen legs and feet and they would get worse as the day went on. I wore compression socks all the time and it didn’t seem to help at all. I would go to bed and hope that the swelling would go down a little bit by the next morning. The swelling didn’t go down until about 2 weeks after Pancake was born.
Shortly after Pancake was born I spent a whole day crying for no reason, so I saw my doctor about possibly having postpartum depression. She started treating me for it and referred me to a therapist. My therapist talked to me about what I like to do. I told her I just really wanted to walk my dog. I love being outside and being with her and it just feels good to me. She encouraged me to call my doctor and see if that was something I could do, even though I wasn’t at 6 weeks postpartum yet. My doctor said that would be just fine, especially if it would make me feel that much better.
At first, we would go on family walks, my husband and Pancake would come with Pepper and me on our walks. Then because we lived in a little town that was pretty safe, I would take Pepper for walks after Pancake went to bed.
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It’s been a year and a half since then, and daily walks are still something that is really important for my mental health although now I have to things a little bit differently. Because my husband works such long days and I live in a decidedly less quaint and safe town, I go in the daytime and I take both of them with me.
It’s really not as hard as I anticipated it being, although I do tend to plan my day around when I would like to be out walking the most. I check the weather forecast and decide when would be best and plan my day around that.
I put Pancake in our jogging stroller, which we got as a hand-me-down from my brother in law. Pancake loves going for walks, and we get Pepper all dressed up and ready to go. She wears a collar as well as a front lead harness that keeps her from pulling so badly. I have a carabiner on the end of her leash so that I can just wrap it around the handle of the stroller and not have to worry about holding onto her and the stroller.
Sometimes she gets excited and I have to pull the stroller rather than push it, but I feel like that is a small price to pay for getting to do something that I absolutely love. I don’t listen to music or podcasts when I am walking because I like to just be able to enjoy being outside and having the time to organize my thoughts. I feel like this keeps me safer too because I am able to be more aware of my surroundings, as well as the other dogs that we will inevitably run into on our walks.
My favorite places to walk are on walking paths, sometimes these are in parks, but in a few places, we have lived, including where we live now, there is a trail that goes through the back parts of the neighborhood. It is paved and maintained by the park district, but it sort of goes between people’s backyards. I like this because It’s a long trail, so I don’t have to see the same thing over and over again, but also, I don’t have to worry about streets, you know, waiting for cars, and curbs and such.
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I like to just be with my thoughts and relax. Some of my friends ask me why I don’t find a walking partner to go with me, but it really is just because I like the time to myself (with Pancake and Pepper of course). Because Pancake really loves walks, he usually doesn’t complain too much as long as he is dressed appropriately for the weather. Of course, Pepper loves them, what dog doesn’t.
I always make sure to bring water for everyone with me. I have a small collapsible bowl on a carabiner that I keep clipped to the stroller for Pepper and I can store water bottles in the carrier portion of the stroller underneath the seat. I also love that we have a garage now, so I can just leave the jogging stroller set up in the garage and take it out when I am ready to use it.
I used to take Pancake for walks in my Baby Björn baby carrier, but he’s way too big for that now, so the stroller is the way to go.
I usually go on walks for about an hour at a time, although I would go longer if the weather was good and Pancake could tolerate it better.
I believe that walking and getting outside is important for my mental health and I want to instill in Pancake a love for being outside and being active. He’s not really very active on these walks, but he gets to look around a lot and he gets to see that I am being active and that it’s important to me.
Also, one of my favorite ways to explore a new area is to walk around it. There are often paths and trails that can only be accessed on foot. I feel that I don’t really know an area very well until I have walked around and explored to become familiar with it.
Really walking my dog is my Favorite thing to do. I hope that this has inspired you to get out and find something you love to do.
If you are dealing with postpartum depression please see your doctor.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-8255
Click HERE to get my Favorite Homemade Dog Treat Recipe for FREE!
Click HERE to get my Schedule Builder for FREE!
