Libby DeLana began walking every day at age 50, while juggling her role as co-founder of an ad agency and parenting two teenage boys. What started as a one-month experiment became a 13-year streak of daily walks. Alongside walking, Libby embraced cold plunging as a way to reset her mind and body. These rituals helped her reinvent herself as an author, podcast host, model, and inspiration for others seeking clarity and transformation through movement.
Libby DeLana began walking every day at age 50, while juggling her role as co-founder of an ad agency and parenting two teenage boys. What started as a one-month experiment became a 13-year streak of daily walks.
Alongside walking, Libby embraced cold plunging as a way to reset her mind and body. These rituals helped her reinvent herself as an author, podcast host, model, and inspiration for others seeking clarity and transformation through movement.
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Shelby Stanger:
Sometimes the wildest ideas have nothing to do with lengthy expeditions or unbelievable physical feats. They can be as simple as walking out your front door. That's what Libby DeLana discovered in 2012 when she committed to walking every day for a month. At the end of that month, Libby decided to keep going. For the past 13 years, she's gone for a mindful walk every single day, and it's completely transformed her life.
I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-op MasterCard. When Libby first laced up her walking shoes, she was 50 years old juggling her work at an ad agency that she co-founded while parenting two teenage boys. Nowadays, things look a little different. Walking gave Libby the clarity and space to reinvent herself as an author, a podcast host, a model, and an inspiration for countless others to discover their own path one step at a time. Libby DeLana, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living. We have been very excited to speak with you, so thanks for coming on the show.
Libby DeLana:
Oh, it's my pleasure.
Shelby Stanger:
Well, let's talk about this transformative practice that you've developed in the last years. So when did you start this practice of daily walking?
Libby DeLana:
First off, thank you for having me and thank you for asking because honestly, I feel at age, I'm about to be 63, which is just honestly mind-blowing and fabulous. Seems like incredible privilege, but the opportunity to talk about walking is actually really what I want to do because it is, as you said, it's very simple if we are able-bodied, and I do not take that for granted.
But the thing about walk, it is in many ways what makes us human. And I would say as a practice, as something to do thoughtfully, it is very small-D Democratic, meaning it's available to us all. We don't really need special gear. We don't even really need special shoes or boots or anything. I mean, it has been an absolutely transformative practice for me. I started 13 years ago and I've gone every single day since.
Shelby Stanger:
Okay, 13 years ago. You've gone every day since. I read that that's the equivalent of walking the circumference of the earth. It's a lot of miles.
Libby DeLana:
It's a lot of miles. That's 25,000 miles, and that occurred probably about three years ago, so it's even more now. But I want to say really really clearly that this practice for me is not about the number of miles. It is not about 10,000 steps. It is actually about fidelity. And that may sound funny, but it's fidelity to myself. So this practice started when I turned 50 and life was grand, healthy family, great career, incredible friends, very, very fortunate life.
And I woke up one morning and it wasn't a thunderbolt, it maybe happened over a little bit of time, but I remember thinking there's something that isn't quite right there. There's something that's missing from my life. And what was it? It was this intentional time in the outdoors. I grew up in the outdoors. It is truly where I am happiest with the rain on my face and wind in my hair. And I was spending a lot of time in carpools and in meetings.
And again, life was great. I have nothing to complain about, but that piece of me, which is kind of the sparkle in my soul, wasn't an intentional part of my day. So I literally said, okay, for the next month, "I'm just going to go for a walk, just a walk every single day." And that's what I did. And I realized after that month that this was something that was maybe one of the most nourishing things I could do for myself every day. And it became a non-negotiable, sort of like brushing your teeth. It's a very important part of my day. It's kind of like my best therapist, my best friend, my best lover, my teacher. So all these things have showed up over the course of 12 years.
Shelby Stanger:
So that first walk, what happened? How did you get out there? How far did you go?
Libby DeLana:
Oh, I stepped outside and my children were old enough at that time. There was no making somebody breakfast or anything like that. So I had the space and I recognized that in many people's lives that taking an hour walk is a privilege of time. But I remember stepping out the back door. It was November, New England, and I remember this kind of feeling of not to be too woo-woo or, but I just sort of felt like I exhaled and it was an exhale that I knew was at my fingertips every single day should I choose to continue to do this.
And that's what I mean by fidelity is I am being faithful to myself by showing up every single day to do it. Sure, I could miss a day. Sure. Would anything bad happen? Nope. But fidelity to myself and to that exhale was really critical. And what it made me feel like? Made me feel awesome. I mean, I just was like, this is right outside my back door. And it can be 10 minutes, it could be an hour and a half, and it just feels great.
Shelby Stanger:
The more Libby walked, the more connected she felt to the natural world. She became more in tune with her body and her mind grew clearer. Walking became an important part of the way she processed problems and came up with ideas. For many years, Libby worked as an art director at a branding and marketing agency. When her team came up against a creative challenge, she often encouraged them to go for a walk.
Libby DeLana:
I will say early in the walking practice, I was still at the agency and there might be a little group of us that was trying to solve a problem. And we get stuck. I'm like, "Okay, everybody, put your shoes on. We're all going to go out and walk together. We're just going to go out and go for a walk around." Because it does tend to move the energy in your body. And when I do a little bit of research on the impact of walking, what you often see are all this list of people who identified as walkers.
Everybody from Virginia Woolf, Steve Jobs, I mean certainly Thoreau, and many of the stories surrounding these incredible human beings was how walking enabled them to get to the core of the idea for them, that it was in the act of moving the body that they were able to create. And so what I found was that by adding motion to my emotions, I understood what I felt. Meaning somebody could often say to me, "How are you doing Lib?" And I'd say, "Fine." And I didn't mean to be dismissive, but I'm not sure I could put to words what I was feeling in certain scenarios. But when I walk, that motion is somehow soothing or it's a catalyst or a lubricant to my emotions, and I'm able to understand more of what I'm feeling. And that is really powerful.
Shelby Stanger:
So many gems right there. First of all, add motion to your emotion. What a great way to be your own therapist in so many ways. I mean, I'm just curious about some of these early walks. Did you have an epiphany or a memorable walk? I mean, I read that once you walked 13 hours through the night.
Libby DeLana:
Yeah, I did walk all night one night. It was after I found out some really life-changing information that I knew was going to have a very profound, long-lasting impact on me. And it was heartbreaking, honestly. And so what I realized when I got home that night was I could curl up in bed and pour myself a little glass of bourbon. I don't drink bourbon. but I could have and kind of crawled under the pillow and my puff, or I could put on my shoes and go for a walk. I didn't know that I was going to walk all night when I started.
But I knew the place where I felt held, seen, heard, cared for, loved was on these walks and on these walks that I had done a lot of times. I knew that barn. I knew the stable ground. I knew... Ooh, it's making me choke up now. That doesn't usually happen. Just walking these paths was stable ground and the best therapist, the best friend I had, and I had come to know, because I was deep into this practice at this point that that was going to be the most soothing, important thing I could do, was to do something for, again for myself.
So I took one loop, it's about a five-mile loop, and I thought after each loop, I just stop at my front door and just kind of do a body scan, check in, how are you doing? And do you need a cup of tea? Do you need a shower? And what I found is I need to keep walking. And I kept walking and each loop was incredible because it sort of was a different expression of emotion. The first one was like absolute pure anger. I swear I stomped the whole five miles and I might've even howled out loud.
There was one loop where it was just pure grief. It was like shock. And so each loop, I began to think, "Okay, I'm going to hold each one of these emotions that I'm feeling, and it's a whole ton of them. I'm going to give space to each one of those emotions as we do this loop." And whatever shows up. Need to play the Beyonce on my headphones, Lemonade, that gives you a heads-up what it is. Or do I need to be quiet? Do I need it silent? Do I need to howl? And so I just walked. I got back basically at seven in the morning the next morning, took a shower and went to work. That's not to say that that emotion was resolved or even sated, but it felt better.
Shelby Stanger:
Committing to walking every single day wasn't always easy, but it became an important piece of Libby's routine. She aimed to get outside first thing in the morning, but when Libby first started walking, she had kids in school and worked a full-time job. The New England weather was another element she had to contend with, from muggy summer days to cold dark winter mornings. So when you walk, is it always at a certain time? Because I imagine you live diagonal from me in the world and it's cold. It's 70 here in San Diego, but it's probably what, 40 there? I don't know. It can't be warm.
Libby DeLana:
Oh, no. It was 22 this morning. Wind chill of 16 or something. So you know what? I'm blessed with good gear. I know how to be out in the wild, in the natural world even at cold temperatures. I've over the course of years, figured out kind of a great system. So when I'm out there this morning, I was really dead set on walking under the full moon. It was so beautiful. So I got up actually extra early while it was still dark, popped on my headlamp and a few reflectors and headed out. And it was quiet.
It's so sweet to see the town waking up, which brings us probably to a conversation which people always ask about safety, and especially as a woman walking through the world, even as I land in new places and places I'm not familiar with, how do I create that sense of safety? And it is an important thing to consider. I am incredibly fortunate.
I'm six feet, honestly. I think sometimes when I've got my hair up in my head, I think I look like a dude. But thanks to my son who is super [inaudible], he's like, "Mom, you got to carry a fanny pack. You got to have a whistle in there." But I pay attention. When I'm in new places, I don't keep my headphones on. I just stay aware and try and put myself in really safe places. But it is something to think about.
Shelby Stanger:
So what are you wearing?
Libby DeLana:
Yeah. So one of the things I do is my sneakers. I actually have a winter pair that are half a size bigger than usual because two things. One is I take out the inserts that the shoes generally come with, and I put in my own. Really important thing with shoes, make sure you pay attention to how many miles you put on your shoes. I only get to 600 miles and I record on the flap of that tongue of my shoe when I started walking with them.
So I take a big Sharpie and I put the date. So and I know roughly how many miles that is. And then I recycle them to a local community center. But that's really important for sort of physical well-being, just caring for my hips and my knees, so. And then in the winter, I wear two pairs of socks and I put those, I wish I could find a better solution, but you know those disposable toe warmers that we often put in our ski boots?
Shelby Stanger:
I like those things.
Libby DeLana:
Yeah, I like those. I just wish I weren't throwing them out all the time. In any case, I put those in. So I had those on this morning, two pairs of socks. I had a pair of long underwear on, a pair of kind of ski pants over them. I had on a short sleeve wool shirt, which is always against my skin, fleecy hood, and then a big puffy coat and a hat and a gaiter. And I always wear my big hood when it's that cold and headlamp and then gloves. Oh, and then I also carry with me hand warmers, which are rechargeable.
They're amazing. They're really hot. And a lot of reflection. And you don't have to go for long. Honestly, there have been sometimes I've gone out and I've gotten caught in just an absolute downpour, and I am so not prepared for it. I'm like, "Well, you know what? A good thing is I'm waterproof." But then I just turn back. Right? Nobody's forcing you to stay out for a certain period of time. And yeah, in the spring I go back to my normal shoes and I don't know, just a lightweight pair of pants and t-shirt or something.
Shelby Stanger:
These days, Libby wakes up early to get out the door by 5:30 AM. She walks for two hours, usually logging around eight miles. She often walks with friends. And this time together has cemented their relationships and led the women to an even daily habit.
Libby DeLana has gone for a walk every single day for the past 13 years. Usually she goes out first thing in the morning before the world wakes up so she can feel the fresh air on her face and the earth beneath her feet. After walking on her own for a while, Libby started walking with friends. One day during the first year of the pandemic, the group was out for a walk when they decided to try something new, cold plunging. Can you just tell me when did you start cold plunging? What did that look like?
Libby DeLana:
It was fall 2020, and we had our little pod squad, a little group of us that would get together and go for walks. We're walking out at the beach and we were rocking, I mean a hundred feet from the Atlantic Ocean, and we all just stopped and basically took off our clothes and hopped in. And...
Shelby Stanger:
So you all skinny-dipped?
Libby DeLana:
Basically. I mean, I think we all kept on sort of the skivvies. But yeah, it was great. And I think the truth of the matter is none of us could ignore what we felt like when we got out, despite how hard it was to get in. And I would say it was the second or third time was the hardest because you're like, "Oh my God, this is so hard to get in the cold water." But the dopamine impact is really profound.
I've heard somebody describe getting out of the water, it's like you have champagne all over your skin and you have such mental clarity. And a lot of this is now being reported. Susanna Soberg is tracking a lot of this, the impact and the dopamine and the sort of impact on brown fat. I won't get into all the science, but it's now just something I actually can't imagine my life without, which is so interesting given that I was the girl who always hated the cold. But yeah, it's transformative.
Shelby Stanger:
So what is cold plunging? What has it done for your body and for your brain?
Libby DeLana:
Oh my gosh. Well, I think what it's done for my brain is, as we said or said, you can't ignore the dopamine. And dopamine is an incredibly powerful tool. I mean, it actually has made the cold plunging kind of addictive. It also brings a lot of clarity. I had some friends who ADHD, and they're sort of like, "Whenever I get in the cold water, it's like best medicine there is." Incredible.
Shelby Stanger:
Because you can't think about anything else because you're freezing your face off.
Libby DeLana:
That's right. But the thing is, it lasts for a while.
Shelby Stanger:
It does.
Libby DeLana:
So I will say when I was working on this cold plunge book, there'd be times where I'd like, "I'm just stuck. This is just like a swamp." I literally would go get in the tank. I'm like, get in the tank.
Shelby Stanger:
Okay, so you have a tank in your house?
Libby DeLana:
I do. I have a tank just in my backyard, and it's just a stock tank, 150 bucks from a local co-op, Essex County co-op, ag co-op. Literally 150 bucks. It's two feet by two feet by four feet, and I'm, as I said, six feet. So I can just get in.
Shelby Stanger:
And do you fill it with ice?
Libby DeLana:
So right now I have to take a sledgehammer to get through it.
Shelby Stanger:
Sorry, that's just so hard to believe that. It's like 70 degrees here.
Libby DeLana:
So I have a, right next to the tank, I have an axe, literally and a sledgehammer.
Shelby Stanger:
Cold water and long walks have been the foundation for a new invigorating phase of Libby's life. After moving on from her full-time job, she focused on traveling, speaking, and writing. In 2021, Libby published "Do Walk" and launched the podcast "This Morning Walk" with author Alex Elle. A decade ago, Libby never would've imagined this life, but by following her curiosity, she's opened doors to unexpected opportunities leading her down a unique and fulfilling path. It seems like your life has changed a lot since you started walking 13 years ago. Is that how you feel?
Libby DeLana:
Isn't that interesting? What a reflection that over the course of these 13 years, my life has changed dynamically. And I think that's true. I'm not sure, oh gosh, I'm going to take that with me on a walk tomorrow, honestly. And somehow when that came up, I felt that in the back of my throat when you said that. Which leads me to believe that there's some tenderness there. And what is that tenderness? I think to be perfectly honest, I've said a number of times, I'm about to turn 63. My life has changed dramatically. And the truth of the matter is, I am more myself now than I have ever f**king been, ever.
Shelby Stanger:
Yay!
Libby DeLana:
Ever.
Shelby Stanger:
Woo-hoo!
Libby DeLana:
And it's amazing. I don't have sadness that it took me this long to get here, but some big things had to shift, some big things had to change. I'll be honest, during the first half of my career, I was often doing things that I thought the culture wanted me to do, that I was supposed to do, that this is what success looked like, or I wasn't supposed to be too ambitious.
Nobody likes an ambitious woman, blah, blah, blah, all this stuff. And the walking was my attempt to get back in the outdoors, which is a key piece of who I am and is now very integrated. And when I was 60, I was asked to start modeling. So when I started walking, I started using Instagram and it became my accountability partner. And because I was an art director, I'm like, "Oh, I'll just take a picture and I'll post it." It was like a journal. Honestly, my Instagram still is a journal. I don't post for anybody else. It's not a platform. It's not a channel.
I have no strategy. I just wake up and I'm like, "What am I going to post today? I don't know. What do I feel?" Well, as a result of this, I was reached out to by this incredible woman from Clinique who said, "Hey, we'd love it. Would you like to be in a campaign we're doing?" I was like, "Me? I mean, I guess." And modeling is a craft. It is something to learn. And but I had been on the other side of the camera my whole career, so I knew what it was like to be on set.
And this campaign was being shot by an extraordinary photographer, Dario Calmese, who we've become good friends since. So I got to set and I was like, "Dario, I have no idea what I'm doing. I want to be really coachable. Tell me anything, everything, anything. Anything you tell me is going to be great." We had a wonderful time, a great great time. As a result of that campaign, a modeling agency in New York was like, "Would you like us to represent you?" I was like, "What? I mean, sure, sure." And I knew. What I knew was I loved being on set and I loved creating, and I love building pictures.
I was in a Verizon campaign in my bathing suit, age 60 with all the 60-year-oldness in my body. I happen to have chosen to age quote unquote "Naturally." And however anybody chooses to age is perfect for them. This is me. You can see all my wrink, all of it. It's just, it is what it is. And I remember I went gray when I was early 30s, and I didn't see in mainstream media a lot of women who were aging the way I intended. And so part of the reason I keep doing it is because I do think it's important for there to be representation in the marketplace.
Shelby Stanger:
It's kind of punk rock.
Libby DeLana:
It is. I mean, again, I am who I am. I've been in the outdoors a lot. This is who I am. And to be perfectly honest, I'm good with it. And that's the thing that matters. And I guess, my note to anybody is do what makes you feel great. This is for me what feels great.
Shelby Stanger:
Advice for anybody who wants to chase a wild idea? You surely have chased many.
Libby DeLana:
I happen to love the beginner's mind. I love trying things. I don't mind being humbled. I don't mind failing. I mean, I fail all the time, every single day, all the time at every, so many things, and I don't really care. Just the other thing I would say in terms of chasing a wild idea is I think the thing that I've realized in the last handful of years, this came while walking, is this is going to sound super, super woo woo.
So buckle up everybody, but I don't know how else to say it, which is alignment is the key to a lot of things, meaning I just recently have realized go towards. Be it, go towards the things that light you up and don't judge them. But when something kind of was, there was a spark, I took the next best step towards it. I didn't try and get all the way there. I didn't try and get to a New York modeling agency. I didn't try.
I'm now training for New York Fashion Week. I don't know what I'm doing. I can barely walk in high heels, but I'm trying because I think it would be really awesome to have a 63-year-old in New York Fashion Week who is wrinkly and gray-haired as I am. And the only reason I'm doing that is because every time I think about it, I get a little bit of this sparkle magic energy. It's the same with getting in the cold water, that just whenever I think about it, I get a little dose of energy. So take the next best step towards it.
Shelby Stanger:
So if you have a little sparkle, keep going towards it. That is some of the best advice we've heard. Kind of like if you have a crush, you'll do anything for that crush. So if you have a crush on this thing that you want to go do or this idea, you keep following that. Stalk the crush. It's okay. In this case, it's okay.
Libby DeLana:
That's such a brilliant analogy.
Shelby Stanger:
By following her spark and sense of curiosity, Libby's world has expanded to include modeling, walking, traveling and spending time with inspiring friends. The most profound changes in our lives often start with a small seed. All we need to do is water it. To learn more about Libby and stay up to date on her adventures, check her out on Instagram @parkhere. That's P-A-R-K H-E-R-E. I highly recommend her page. Like she said, she treats her Instagram like a journal, not to mention she has an incredible fashion sense. You can also hear more from Libby by tuning into her podcast called "This Morning Walk." It's available wherever you listen to podcasts.
If you're interested in learning more about the power of walking, get a copy of Libby's book, "Do Walk." You can find all of these links and more on her website at libbydelana.com. That's L-I-B-B-Y D-E-L-A-N-A. Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI Podcast Network. It's hosted by me, Shelby Stanger, produced by Annie Fassler, Sylvia Thomas, and Sam Peers Nitzberg of Puddle Creative. Our senior producers are Jenny Barber and Hannah Boyd. Our executive producers are Paolo Mottola and Joe Crosby. As always, we love it when you follow the show, take time to rate it and write a review wherever you listen. And remember, some of the best adventures happen when you follow your wildest ideas.