Most weeks, I open this newsletter with a thought I've been chewing on.
This week, someone else did the chewing.
An application to host The Board Walks came in from Mysore, India.
Video, not text. A woman with a bright smile and warm personality, sitting in her home, breaking down 3 reasons why she wants to walk five miles with strangers in her city every Saturday.
She's a psychologist.
She said she watches the loneliness crisis land on people face-to-face, all day, every day. Her clients always tell her the same thing: they have people around them, their group chats are popping, they even have a weekly meetup with friends… and yet they still feel isolated, cut off, and lonely.
Then she said the line I keep coming back to:
"To be honest, I see the same kind of needs inside of me."
She's been following us on Twitter for about six months. She visits our website regularly. And a few days ago, she decided that instead of recommending something like the walk to her clients, she’s ready to lead one.
In her words: “a safe, non-judgmental space for people to connect and move their bodies together.”
What a vote of confidence for the world we’re building together.
Meanwhile, in cities everywhere... Saturday morning happened. 🧡
From our walking villages in 18 cities around the world:
Atlanta’s group photo this week is looking like The Board Walks University, Class of 2026. (We once had a regular in Austin put that on his Linkedin. Not kidding.)
Guest host in Sacramento this week. Big thanks to Trent for keeping the walk alive. 🧡
A very special birthday walk in Detroit for our host, Izzy Quane! We’ve loved seeing the heart and care that Izzy’s brought to her city since January. She’s an inspiration. 🧡
Power posing with the flamingos in Aveiro, Portugal. 🦩
(Don’t see your city? We post the photos on Instagram or in each Meetup group after the walk. Otherwise this email would be longer than a CVS receipt.)
🏆 In Atlanta, a regular named JT saw how big ATL’s intro circle was in our recent newsletter and wrote a note to our team: “I’ve always told Sohil that the walk was going to be a big thing in Atlanta! It was inevitable.” Yes and yes. We love when people can feel the momentum through the screen.
🏆 In Sacramento, one man loved his first walk but found his knees were done by mile three. Instead of quietly disappearing, he asked if he could bring his bike. This week he showed up with it, rode slow beside the group, and hopped off to carry it up the stairs. Sometimes belonging is just a logistics problem someone was willing to solve. 🧡
🏆 In Nashville, a walker told host Hannah at the end that they'd assumed they'd have nothing in common with someone decades younger. Five miles, later they'd found more overlap than either expected. The trail doesn't care what year you were born.
There's a question underneath the psychologist’s application:
“What happens when we remove the distractions?”
Cam brought that exact question to an Austin opening circle a few months ago, then spent five miles collecting the answer from 40 strangers who had no idea they were answering it.
What he found is that the noise doesn't have to stop. People can just step out of it, for two and a half hours, on a Saturday, when they could have stayed in bed.
His conclusion, which is a lot more hopeful than the classic "throw your phone in the ocean and touch grass:”
If the distractions stopped, we'd remember we already know how to do this.
This week on The Board Walks, people brought these topics:
"What changes when you remove TV from your life, and what fills that space instead?"
"What assumptions or cultural conditioning did you have to leave behind to be here?"
"How do you know when you've found your place?"
"What's one of your favorite forms of escape?"
"When you were a kid, what did you get lost in?"
Screenshot these. Steal with pride. Bring one to your next dinner party to shift the conversation from “meh” to marvelous.
Quick hits:
🤠 San Antonio starts walking tomorrow!
City #18 is here. We've learned that first walks aren't won with marketing; they're won when one person decides to bring a friend.
If you know anybody in San Antonio, send them a text tonight to join our awesome host, Forrest Davidson. First walks are always better with one friendly face.
✨ The Board is open, and the founding rate is still on.
There's a specific kind of loneliness that comes with growth. You've built a full life, you're surrounded by good people, and there are still parts of you that don't get to exist in the rooms you're in. We call it the Hallway Period: trying every door, hoping one opens into something real.
The Board is the room at the end of that hallway. Monthly themed Salons, spontaneous chats between work meetings, and a member directory where everyone passed the vibe check.
Where your dues go: the walks are free in every city and always will be. The Board is what keeps them that way.
🧡 The single best thing you can do for us: tell us what you saw.
Every Saturday, in 18 cities, something happens that we never hear about.
We only get to share what makes it back to us.
So here's our standing ask: after a walk, drop us the moment that stuck. One line, a paragraph, or a rambly voice note. The smallest details are the things we love most. Bookmark the form. It never changes.
A psychologist in Mysore is trying to give her city one Saturday morning where nobody is being pulled away.
Maybe your city is next. 👀
Five miles, no phones, no agenda, nobody keeping score. Somebody might ask you a question you didn't know you were waiting for.
Have a whimsical week,
Founders of The Board Walks
P.s. If your first thought reading this was "I could do that here," I'd gently point out: that thought is basically the application. Host with us. 🧡
