I’ve literally tried everything for my physical and mental wellness: I’ve run a half marathon, done indoor cycling, Pilates, and I weight-trained for two and a half years.
But nothing gives the feeling of pure magic like what I call a “Hot Girl Walk”—a concept I founded in 2020 during the pandemic—and I think I’ve cracked the code on why.
In fact, I found the Hot Girl Walk concept so valuable, I trademarked the name and used it to build my women’s wellness business.
The Hot Girl Walk is about four miles long and you focus on three things: What you’re grateful for, your goals and how you’re going to achieve them, and how hot you are.
But to be honest, it doesn’t really matter how long the walk is. The foundation of the Hot Girl Walk is the personal journey of introspection and reflection that leads to self-confidence.
It’s not about how far you walk, but what you do while you walk that makes all the difference.
Mia Lind
In high school and college, I struggled with confidence in my daily life. When I interviewed for college or internships, I found it difficult to advocate for and own my accomplishments.
I, as many other teenagers in the world, grew up with social media and constantly comparing myself to how other people looked. I always believed that the way I looked wasn’t good enough, and I just needed to find the right diet to make myself look like the other girls on Instagram.
On my Hot Girl Walks, I always think about things I’m grateful for, my goals and achievements, and thereafter, confidence.
Regular gratitude practice taught me that I had a lot more positive in my life than negative, and the stressors that seemed like the biggest thing on earth were not as big as they seemed.
Thinking about my achievements allowed me to “practice” confidence. Without anyone with me on my walks, I could be proud of my accomplishments absent the fear of not being humble.
These steps all combined taught me that confidence comes from within, and once I believed in myself, my whole life started changing: I started nailing my job interviews, I looked confident in photos, and I generally stopped being anxious about what others thought of me.
I walk 15,000 to 20,000 steps a day. I get most of my steps in early in the morning, right when I wake up. Sometimes I don’t even go on my phone, I go out on a Hot Girl Walk for an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how late I woke up.
By going straight outside to get into the sun rather than picking up my phone, I’m helping to regulate my circadian rhythm, our body’s natural internal clock that tells us when we should be awake and when we should be asleep.
So, my energy level throughout the day is stable, I experience no anxiety, I don’t crash in the middle of the day, and my hunger is super regulated.
If you’re someone who feels unmotivated throughout the day, I used to feel like that all the time too. But when I go on a Hot Girl Walk, it automatically puts me into what’s called a “flow state”.
To stay in flow means you’re focused on accomplishing a task that challenges you but isn’t too difficult to achieve.
For me, a Hot Girl Walk of a long distance of 15,000 to 20,000 steps creates a challenge that is attainable and gives me a sense of achievement. For some reason, that feeling just carries me throughout the entire day.
Hot Girl Walks also require no mental load. Having a really low mental load workout in your repertoire is really important.
Workouts that require a low mental load help take some of the excuses out of exercising. If you’re trying to change your lifestyle and habits, making a really small, easy change is more realistic than a big change.
For instance, going outside and walking—something our bodies have been doing since a young age—is less daunting than waking up at 5 A.M. to run four miles and train for a marathon.
Sometimes, when I don’t feel like washing my hair, it’s too tempting to just not work out at all. But a Hot Girl Walk doesn’t make me sweaty enough that I feel like I need to wash my hair—and means I can still have a productive workout.
They also require no planning. All you need to do is just walk. You can literally walk outside of your apartment and be on your Hot Girl Walk.
It’s so accessible, and pretty much everybody can go on a Hot Girl Walk. The distance is variable too. I find that four miles is perfectly challenging for me, and anything above it is a beautiful bonus. But it’s really up to you to find your own Goldilocks zone.
I’m so proud that we’ve grown our community of Hot Girl Walkers to LA, New York City, Miami, and the Gold Coast in Australia. And there’s much more still to come.
If it’s not there already, you need to add the Hot Girl Walk to your own health and wellness routine. You won’t regret it.
Mia Lind is the founder of the Hot Girl Walk®. You can find her on TikTok and Instagram.
All views expressed are the author’s own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.