My issue with your query, HoneyBadger, is that initially you described normal-looking women. Not eccentric-looking people. And now you’re saying that these women looked unusual based on their dress, posture, and demeanor and that you know they were nutso. Well, which is it? And if you know they’re crazy, why the question in the first place?
There are a number of possible explanations for why you don’t see them anymore. Maybe they moved away. Or they died. Or they retired from their jobs and no longer have to walk to work. Or they decided walking is boring and started taking the bus. If they are mentally ill, maybe they got over their illnesses or found some other way of coping. The potential reasons are too numerous to count. I don’t know why you think we’d possibly know the answer.
Thier really is no right way for me to respond to your post. Your view is probably similar to 90% of the general population. Maybe 10% or less of the population might find some interest in human interest type posts. I have tons of little oddities I have noticed over the years that most wouldn’t even have been aware of. They might be about some kind of plant, or tree, or animal of some kind. So I am more interested in hearing responses from those who have similar interests. I don’t know of anyone else in my neighborhood who is even aware these walkers exist. So I am not the least bit insulted that you don’t have any interest in this.
When I was a kid, there was a guy who would walk past our house every morning (I’d usually see him just before I left for school), very quickly, swinging his arms side-to-side in front of him. Mom told us he was a “race-walker”, but I don’t think she knew who he was (kind of unusual in a small town, so I don’t think he lived nearby.)
There were quite a few people we knew in that town who were into exercise–training for 10K’s and triathlons and things like that, so seeing someone walking like that was kind of weird, but not crazy-weird. I definitely think it was an exercise thing.
I feel I have to side with the OP here, at least to an extent.
I find myself observing and picking up on patterns of things and people in my daily life. This is all just offhand observation. There are two or three people I see walking or riding a bike on a regular basis and do wonder where they go exactly and perhaps why.
To me, to be curious is to be human and is perfectly normal. I often wonder why some people find it off or even wrong to be so curious and aware of ones environment? Quite frankly I find it animalistic to just plow blindly through ones day, barely paying attention to what’s going on in the world.
My wife is notorious for it too. I’ll ask her “Well haven’t you ever wondered…” or “Have you ever noticed” and she almost always answers in the negative, often with a judgmental air about it.
As one poster said, I’d think life would be pretty boring if you never thought about what’s going on around you
I think it may be a mental illness of some kind that causes this behavior. A few years ago I used to see the same shirtless, long-haired guy walking in one direction every morning…hard not to notice something so regular. Every evening he was walking in the opposite direction. I figured he was mentally ill after I’d see him in different areas when I came home at different hours of the day. No matter the time of day I might run into him walking near my area of town. One time I was about 20 miles from my house and, you guessed it, I see this guy walking down the street!
One night he sat under a tree right near my house. I was walking my dog and he was talking to himself as though he was having a conversation with someone. Confirmed my suspicion that he is mentally ill. Every now and then I’m in that area and he’s still walking the path. Strange indeed.
There’s a difference between noticing something and ascribing motivation to what you witness. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with noticing that these people walk a lot and thinking “hmm… odd”. What is somewhat strange is the desire to be so sure that there’s some sort of mental illness or trauma or deep dark secret reason they do it. Sure, maybe one of them is schizophrenic, but there are so many potential reasons someone could take a lot of walks that without talking to the person in question about it there’s not much you can say. There’s certainly nothing you can say about it generally.
Nobody is faulting anyone for being aware of their surroundings and noticing their neighbors quirks. What people are taking exception to is going that extra step towards “and it’s weeeeeird, what’s WRONG with them?”
If you aren’t going to talk to those people to find out what makes them tick, all you’re doing is noticing and bullshitting to yourself about what you know, HoneyBadger.
As I said earlier, I am sure there are people who absolutely KNOW the same about me. But they don’t see me driving around in my Subaru on the weekends and they don’t see me coming out of my office building, where I am a functional, relatively normal human being. All they see is a kinda well-dressed woman with a slightly unusual gait, who occasionally tics, and who walks everywhere (and has the calves to prove it). If they stopped to get to know me, maybe they would find out all their assumptions are wrong.
I notice weird stuff too, by the way. It’s not your observations skills I disagree with. It’s the conclusions you’re drawing from them. You seem to be curious, but only halfway.
There’s a guy who I see on my regular jaunts. He IS schizophrenic, although heavily medicated. I’ve never seen him in a fully psychotic state. He walks because he doesn’t have money to take the bus, and the flop house where he lives is miles away from where he gets his Haldol injections and picks up odd jobs. Despite his limp, I think he also just likes to burn time by walking. Hanging out at the flop house all day can’t be fun. He can be dishelved, but it’s the type of state anyone who doesn’t have a lot of money and self-esteem would find themselves in. As much as I dislike running into him sometimes, I’ve caught a glimpse into the life of a rather unusual person and now I have more compassion/understanding than I used to.
There is a lot in between “normal” person and “OMG! CRAZY!” It could be your walkers are a mixture of these. How do you feel about this possibility?
Well, the men were obviously off as they would talk to themselves non stop. The women were another story, they looked relatively normal but kind of stuck in a time rut from when they were teenagers. The rigidness of thier styles over a period of so many years made it pretty clear sometinng was off. I could honestly throw guesses all day and not really know for sure what was wrong. My jobs have always required that I am on the road a lot within about a 20 mile radius of the shop. Service calls, sales calls etc. Thats the only reason I have become so aware of what I loosely refer to as the street people. Like any big city in Ca. we have our share of mental cases walking the steeets. This small group as well as several others I haven’t mentioned just caught me attention.
They are certainly not OMG crazy but they do appear noticably off a bit. They are also not homeless and appear to be cared for. I agree my guesses are just wild guesses.
There is a difference between people who walk and Walkers. I understand completely what the OP is talking about. I knew the two most well known Walkers in my area. Describe them to anyone in the area and they knew who you were talking about.
Walking Jack lived around the corner from me. I delivered newspapers to his family. Big hulking scary guy. On any given day you could see him walking anywhere in the county and beyond. Obvious mental illness, probably schizophrenic. He died at a young age so no more walking for him.
Andrew walks all day everyday. Nice guy. Went to school with him. He is autistic. Wanders all around town. Usually in a parka even when it gets too hot for it. He goes to every town council meeting and they give him two minutes at the end to talk about anything. He’s a town fixture.
Thelma, our streets here are full of excersize walkers. The walkers I am reffereing to pretty well blend in and really don’t draw any attention to themselves. We have plenty of those that walk for transportation, walk because they enjoy walking and then we have the obsessive walkers I am reffereing to who put at least 8 to 10 hours a day into walking. I uess I was wondering if thier migt be some specifc diagnosed condition tat lends itslef to obsessive walking. I spent many, many years obsessively carving wood bows out of tree trunks while still holding down a job. Every hobby I have ever had I have become somewhat obsessive about it, maybe I kind of relate to these folks in some odd way.
Thank god you posted this response. I was going along reading everything, feeling like it was all surreal and was just like… wait WHAT? How come no one is razzing the OP yet? And wow, lots of people talking about how walkers must be mentally ill or suffer from schizophrenia… <_<
I guess it’s just you and me who think that folks should be able to walk for fun and not thought to be mentally ill.
I mean, honestly. I’m only allowed to walk on parks and trails, otherwise I must be suffering from a mental illness?
You really can’t see the difference between those who walk for fun and those who obsessively walk all day everyday? I gave two examples. If you want I can post their last names too. No one is suggesting that everyone who walks anywhere is mentally ill.
I’ve been part the mental health community in Northern Virginia for a bit over 20 years, some of which were as an active member of a mental health program that functions as work rehabilitation. The program does have quite a few Walkers, some of whom always wear a heavy coat no matter what the season.
I think it’s a combination of waking to get somewhere, walking for relaxation, and/or walking to keep one’s personal demons at bay. I’ve been in the first group and my SO in the first two until physical health became an obstacle.