6 Tips for Surviving Morning Mall Walks

As much as I love hitting the trail—breathing in that fresh air as I enjoy the scenery and greet every single bunny and deer that I pass along the way—sometimes it’s just not in the cards. Sometimes, it’s just too cold/rainy/hot/snowy/generally unpleasant outside for a stroll on the trail. And those are the days when it’s time to hit the mall.

Walking in the mall is always an adventure. Depending on the time of day, you could end up bobbing and weaving around giggling teenage girls. You can stroll past eye-catching displays while making mental notes about where to stop to shop when you finish your walk. You can test your self-control as you walk past Great American Cookies for the third time.

Mall walking during shopping hours can definitely be a challenge—but mall walking before mall hours is a completely different kind of challenge.

Many malls open their doors early—before the stores open for the day—to allow walkers to get their steps in before the mall is flooded with shoppers, who take their dear, sweet time ambling from store to store, and tend to get in the way of those of us who are trying to keep up a decent pace. (I mean…the nerve of these people who are actually shopping at the mall, when the mall’s main purpose is obviously to act as an entertaining indoor walking track for bored seniors and frazzled moms.) And those early mall-walking hours come with their own difficulties. After all, without the hustle and bustle of shoppers making their way from one store to the next, lugging shopping bags or wrangling small children, it’s just you and the other walkers, awkwardly passing each other over and over and over again as you walk today’s 63 laps.

I’ve shared my mall-walking tips in the past. But there’s an additional set of guidelines for surviving those morning mall walks. So, from my own experience as a morning mall walker, here are my observations.

1) Walk with a friend.

Morning mall walks are way less awkward if you’re with a friend. Then, instead of looking like a lonely, friendless, and possibly slightly pathetic person who needs to walk through the mall to be around other human beings, you look like a friendly, social person who’s enjoying a nice walk while catching up with a friend. You can get caught up in your conversation and not pay any attention to the fact that another solo walker is giving you the side-eye.

2) Bring headphones.

If you don’t have a friend to walk with, headphones are a must. You don’t actually have to use them for listening to something if you don’t want to, but they make you look like someone who’s enjoying some upbeat music or a good book while strolling through the mall. You’re getting in some much-needed personal time. You’re enjoying yourself! You’re probably really interesting and not at all pathetic! Also…it keeps other, less socially aware, walkers from trying to start up a conversation.

3) Look friendly without being too friendly.

So it might just be my anxiety talking, but I spend a whole lot of time while I’m walking through the mall thinking about how to handle the other mall walkers. I don’t want to look mean or scary or angry. I don’t want to be weird, but I want to look like a nice person. I do not want to come off as creepy, like the guy who walked a little too close to my personal space the other day, held uncomfortable eye contact, and said, “Hello! How are you doing?” as I walked past. Since I realize that there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll be seeing the same people over and over again, I’ll generally smile across the hallway the first time I see them—and then just pretend to be really busy with something else from then on. Which takes me to my next tip…

4) Find ways to avoid too much eye contact.

After that first acknowledgment of my fellow walkers, I tend to spend the rest of my walk trying to ignore them in the politest ways possible. Every once in a while, I’ll accidentally make eye contact, and I’ll give a small grin and move on. More often, I’ll pretend to check my watch (“How far have I gone? Well…about .03 miles since the last time I checked.”) or my phone (even though try to disconnect from the outside world while I walk, so I’m mostly just looking at my library app to see how much time is left in my audiobook) or check out a store’s window display with incredible interest. But if it breaks up the awkwardness, so be it.

5) Cut corners if needed.

Another thing that stresses me out about solo morning mall-walking: passing. I am fully aware that I walk faster than the average mall-walker—and that means that sometimes I just have to pass my fellow pedestrians. As I approach, I panic a little bit, trying to decide how to handle the situation. If I slow down, not only will I end up frustrated, but I’ll then just be following behind them like some kind of creeper. If I have to pass, it means walking out around them and looking like some jerk who walks a ridiculous pace in the mall. (I mean, who is this woman who thinks she can just race around people in the mall? How rude!) But, if I’m lucky, my fellow walkers will turn off into a side hallway, and I can just cut right by, looking like someone who cuts corners instead of someone who gets some kind of sadistic pleasure from striding around adorable old ladies in the mall. And then I breathe a sigh of relief…until I start approaching the next amblers up ahead.

6) Don’t overthink it.

If you’re an anxiety-ridden mess like I am, this might be easier said than done. But walking in the mall is supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable. Don’t worry too much about the people around you—people that, in all likelihood, you’ll never see again. Just be courteous, walk at your own pace, and feel proud of yourself for getting your steps in—even when Mother Nature tries to scare you off.

Do you have any tips of your own for surviving morning mall walks?