Turning My Love for Walking Into a Welcome Mat for New Neighbors

Not unlike so many other women, I love a good stroll at the end of the day. That is especially true during the colder seasons when sedentary living threatens to take over. An invigorating walk helps with weight management, settles my busy head, and inspires me to reconnect with nature. And if a friend happens to join me, it affords me the opportunity to socialize in ways walking alone can’t afford. One particular friend often joined me on my regular walks and I adored having her along. That all changed, however, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Yes, it did.

Up to that moment, she and I walked a few times a week together. I relished her company and the stories we shared. Then suddenly, our normal jaunts were put to an end by my friend due to her fears about the pandemic. I was extremely disappointed which only grew as each subsequent day passed. I dearly missed the conversation that went along with those walks.

Stumped for what to do and saddened to think that my strolling days with others might be over temporarily, I decided to give an idea that suddenly cropped up in me, a shot. “Necessity being the mother of invention,” that reality was showing itself to be accurate this time too.

Reaching out to the local community through a town-wide website, I decided to post an ad in search for new friends to walk with, not really expecting anyone to answer. But someone did and that “someone” wasn’t alone. Plenty (and I mean ‘plenty’) of people answered–all new to the area or suddenly stuck at home due to their personal or professional circumstances changing at the hands of the pandemic. Unable to figure out how to cultivate new friendships themselves, walking safely outdoors with people who found themselves in the same boat seemed like an opportune activity.

With so many people reaching out to answer my pathetic plea (which ended up being anything but pathetic and more like a godsend), the site that I posted it on requested that I create my own group because the growth of the response was becoming too overwhelming for them to manage. So I did just that, offering a place to go for those in need of new friends and refreshing walks to gather with or without me. At the top of the list were new neighbors who either found themselves displaced or permanently relocated due to the impact of the lockdowns on the cities they once lived.

A simple and fun way to welcome them to the community, I arranged group walks at a state park situated in our town so that they might meet other neighbors (and walkers) in the area. Each of these walks raised their comfort level and made riding through the pandemic a great deal less lonely. Those group walks continue today.

Enjoying having so many new and wonderful personalities in my life, it got me to thinking that my town was just one of many towns who could benefit from the program that I had set in motion, whether under extreme circumstances like a pandemic or normal circumstances like everyday life. Frankly, it’s hard to make new friends for most of us for so many realistic reasons, including family, work, shifts in the stages of life, and so on.

Taking from everything that I learned and reminded of the saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39), I decided to create an app that offered a veritable welcome mat of the walking kind nationwide called ZNEEX. My intention was to make it so that no one would ever find themselves without someone to walk with or talk with again, even if they found themselves to be the newest kid on the block. I’d make it easy for them to integrate, transitioning my own difficult circumstances into a solution that would make their lives easier and happier. And that’s what I did.

Currently, ZNEEX is alive and kicking and I am feeling quite thrilled to see a once bad situation become something really helpful and good for so many. Having always believed that there is a silver lining in just about every situation, who would have thought that my simple love for walking would become a means to help bridge new friendships and communities in a way that has been well-overdue. Just goes to remind us that life is ever surprising and filled with promise always…and in this case, a needed welcome mat to boot.