Yesterday I was interviewed by Doris Rittberger from Wild Urb about my passion for walking... 

They are producing a sequence of interviews with Viennese residents, who are discovering their city by foot.  

Also like them on Facebook for getting great input/updates about "Walking in Vienna"! 

Feel free to check out my contribution on Youtube with a click on the picture.  :-)  

The location for the interview was at the "Wien Fluss" in Hietzing. Down by the river this trail is an amazing recreational area in the middle of Viennas 13th and 14th district. The trail meanders along the "Wien River" for about 7 kilometres and is a paradise for walkers and cyclists. 

May I introduce you to the origin of my business idea?

I always loved walking, using my feet as a means of transport, enjoying the environment and the simple fortune of being healthy, of having the  ability to walk. 

In early 2013 I was questioning myself about "What's next". At that time I was just getting ready to leave my job as a  "full time stay at home mom" to two daughters. The nearly three year old "baby" was fully toilet trained and started family daycare once a week, while my older daughter was in pre-school, twice a week. I was very much looking forward to that "time to myself" - but every friday, when I had that day "off", I was very frustrated and unhappy, I just couldn't enjoy it. 

It turned out that while staying home with my children I did forget about my "other" life, the professional life I had before, earning real money in the adult world. Not that I regret one minute of staying home, being together with my daughters and making a home to my family, but at that stage it was not satisfying me anymore - I needed to get out again. 

A visit at my GP verified the subconscious fear I carried with me for a few weeks already: I did have positive results at the K10 test for psychological distress. My JP recommended to see a career psychologist, who turned out to be just what I needed. In addition to teaching me about how to deal with difficult thoughts and feelings, she worked with me on my CV and resume, helping me also to find out what I wanted to do next. When prompted to name my favorite thing to do, I would always state that walking is a big pleasure for me and I would love to do it for a living, of course knowing that this is not likely to be possible. 

But what would be wrong in just starting a "walking business" for the sake of doing it, for the sake of having a goal for the future, for the simple sake of having something on the agenda for those "free fridays"... and this is how it all really started. In March 2013 I started with walking "on purpose" to establish my own little business "walkability.com.au" - a business of high importance as it saved my sanity, and let me find back to happiness.