Getting proper running shoes and walking 5.5km for the first time feels incredibly liberating

Ok so I started doing street photography last week and really enjoying it. finished up from work on Monday and thought I'd challenge myself by walking back home from work while getting some photos done, which was 5.5km from home. halfway through my feet were quite sore but barely made it to my apartment in 1.5 hours, doing some photography, visiting a couple stores and a short refreshment break.

I actually REALLY enjoyed it, so I wanted to go the next level, spend some money on GOOD shoes meant for walking long distances. I walked a 3km round trip to the local shoe shop and back, bought new Asics' while I was there.

I found the walk very enjoyable, still was sore 1km in with my old shoes but was really feeling how amazing it was to walk a short-ish distance. I have anxiety, I don't go out much and was soured by public transport, (waiting around, delays, crowdedness at peak times) so I didn't have much motivation to go outside and shop/eat out for quite some time.

Ok, got the new shoes. I walk out on a short 2km walk to a snowboarding shop to test them out and see what the fuss is about snowboarding, my GOD they feel incredible. was sore 10 minutes in a little but after a couple of adjustments and pushing on, it went and my steps were so smooth.

The thing is with my 5.5km walk from work to home, I was not exhausted, nor sweating horribly at all. It was just my feet were always sore and i struggled after 1-2km but i was very much energetic that whole time.

I was humbled after that walk and upgrading my kicks. I now have WAY more motivation to travel throughout my city, picking a destination and just walking there. No need for a car, no need to deal with people on the train/bus/tram/whatev, it feels like I just earned my car license for the first time.

I actually am sad its dark outside now because I want to go for another walk! I never had such a feeling of giddiness like waking up in Christmas morning when I was little... Just to touch grass. I wanna see the sights, I want to take more photographs, I want to plan a new destination.

So I am walking 11km tomorrow! To work and back, planning a couple trips for next week to my fav stores and such around 7-8 km from my place.

TL;DR- Walked a challenging length of 5.5km, loved it so much I bought new shoes, feel a massive amount of freedom to walk to all my approachable destinations and back instead of dealing with Public Transport nor learning to drive. I have an anxiety disorder and have been a bit of a hermit lately, this gets me very excited to get out of the house.