- When I learned about rage walking — or rage hiking — I was intrigued.
- I realized I had already been doing it for years without knowing it.
- Rage walking, or going for a brisk walk to process anger, helps me deal with challenging emotions.
I recently learned about rage hiking, a term that Kelcie Pegher of the LA Times coined to describe a brisk, challenging walk outside to help process and deal with intense emotions. It instantly intrigued me; for so long, I've felt like there's been nowhere for me to put my anger and nothing constructive for me to do when I'm feeling enraged.
I'm always looking for outlets for my messier emotions. I could scream or shout, but doing that anywhere in public is typically frowned upon. I can bottle up my feelings, but that leaves me right where I started, simmering with rage.
While some people might let it all out at the gym or scream in the car, that's never quite worked for me, and there are few places for most of us to deal with anger safely and healthily. Rage hiking or walking appeals to me because it's a practical and easily accessible form of anger management that seems like it could help. So I decided to give it a try.
What is a rage walk?
According to BBC's analysis of 10 years of data from Gallup, women appear to be getting angrier. Given the effects that anger can have on a person's mental and physical health, it's important to have an outlet for it. Rage walking is a simple, free, and accessible way to get emotional catharsis and benefits from the combined powers of nature and movement.
Rage walking is also part of a trend for people embracing the darker side of their emotions as a form of self-care, including the rise of practices such as scream groups and rage rooms, instead of pretending these emotions don't exist.
"It provides an outlet for pent-up emotions and stress, allowing individuals to channel their anger into physical activity," Suzanne Bartlett Hackenmiller, the lead medical director at the walking-and-hiking app AllTrails, told Insider.
"The conversation around rage hiking is a fairly new phenomenon and follows similar outdoor walking trends like the hot girl walk and soft hiking as new ways to approach walking and hiking," she said.
There are many ways to rage walk. You can go with a group of friends so you can talk about how you feel; you can go alone with a playlist to stomp it out to your thoughts; you can even go for a hike and challenge yourself to reach a summit or go for distance.
How rage walking can help you process your emotions
Though I only recently learned the practice's name, I have unknowingly used rage walking to help me process anger and frustration for many years. My walking habit intensified during lockdown; with a feeling of helplessness and nothing else to do, walking helped me let off steam and have time to process difficult emotions.
When a house move fell through? It was time for a rage walk. When I had an argument with my partner or was feeling overwhelmed with parenting? You bet I was grabbing my trainers before I started screaming. I have been doing this for a while, and it's always helped. But after learning about the term and the benefits, I started doing it with more intention.
I prefer to rage walk while listening to music, usually starting by stomping along to an angry playlist, which might calm down to a slower tempo as I go. I tend to walk with my dog, and I have a couple of routes, each about three miles long, which take me about an hour — the perfect amount of time for me to feel the heat of anger cooling off.
When I feel angry and don't have an outlet for it, I tend to overthink and only get more annoyed. I might feel like my only options are to scream into a forest or to burn my house down. Walking gives me a breath of fresh air — literally and figuratively — and gives me some distance and time to reflect on the situation. While I walk, I have a chance to regain some perspective — and if all else fails, it gives me some time to plot revenge
Being outside almost always improves difficult days or bad moods. A rage walk resets the scales, and I come back feeling more like myself and able to cope more healthily. Some studies have found that walking in nature can reduce stress and increase positive mood, reduce tension and fatigue, and reduce rumination, or the tendency to dwell on negative thoughts.
It's a small thing that can make a big difference
Going for a walk might sound mundane and lack the drama of smashing a window, but it's also a free everyday act you can do consistently, and that's key. Wellness is often not about huge moments of recovery or enlightenment, but about finding strategies to help you navigate life, and small ways to improve it.
A rage walk is just that: a small thing you can do for yourself to help reset. My walks help me move — literally — through my anger. They don't solve all my problems, but they do give me a place to process them and a space to channel my rage. See you on the footpaths; I'll be the one listening to heavy metal.