Philosopher Kieran Setiya is fascinated by purposeless activities.
Telos is the Greek word for purpose. By extension, telic activities are those undertaken with some purpose. For example, I'm walking to the store to buy bread. Walking as a means of transportation to somewhere else is a telic activity.
Interestingly, Setiya believes that much of our happiness & fulfillment in life come from atelic activities. In other words, activities without an explicit purpose.
If I just go for a walk - purely because walking is nice - that's an atelic activity.
I often walk a mile loop in my neighborhood of Boston. It's a nice way to relax, get outside, breathe deeper, & get some exercise.
But here's the trick... As soon as you start walking for exercise, or walking for relaxation, or (one that's popular among software developers) walking for deep thinking time, you've taken an atelic activity & given it a purpose, making it a telic activity once again.
Let me be clear. There's nothing wrong with taking a walk for a purpose.
Still, sometimes it's nice to take a walk for no reason at all. Walking just to walk.