Wikipedia describes “The Camino
de Santiago is the name of any of the pilgrimages to the shrine of the
apostle St James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in
northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the saint are
buried. Many take up this route as a form of spiritual path or retreat, for
their spiritual growth. Brazilian author Paulo Cohelo wrote about this in his
best selling book “The Pilgrimage”
I soon discovered that this walk or pilgrimage would become something that has greatly
affected my life. When I chose to do this, I had no expectation of what
would come of it other than a new experience. The trip has stuck with me...and the things I discovered are
actively present in my daily life.
When
I decided to do
this walk, I realized it
would be the longest time I had ever gone without working since I was a
teenager. This caused
me much more angst and created more fear
in me than I had ever expected. So I booked my ticket with the
nervous energy of knowing I was going to be gone for well over a month. The only details that were set
in stone were my first two nights in the south of France and the
location of the Santiago starting point office where I would pick up my "pilgrimage" map. I
was about to be “free” - something
I really craved, but was scared of, at
the same time.
I was taking this journey because I knew I would discover
something about myself, and knowing
that every time I do something that scares me or puts me out of my comfort
zone, I grow tremendously. I had
been feeling for the past year that I want to do something different with my
life concerning my career but really had no idea what that would be. I
wanted change, growth, and something
new and different for myself. The Camino is a religious journey for some, but for me it was a journey that I feel brought me back to
myself.
I could write countless sentences
about each detail of the trip but I will summarize what I feel was the greatest
lessons of the whole experience.
Everyday
I watched the sun rise and the sun set. Now that I am back it reminds me
to stay present and savor those little beautiful things that happen daily that
we sometimes take for granted. I walked through some ridiculously
fantastic scenery, traversed amazing trails and mountains, ate amazing food,
and met some really incredible people. Everyone who takes the journey is there for different reasons and
different motivations, just like life. There were moments of
intense joy, complete euphoria from your surroundings, and surprising
revelations. I experienced forgiveness for
myself and others, times of letting go and moments of completely breaking down
in tears to deal with things that were buried deep down. The scenery is constantly changing, just like
life, but how you chose to take it in is entirely up to you. You can choose to
soak up the moments and the views or you can choose to rush through them.
I believe the world is always showing you signs, and personal
choices are always being made that will affect your journey. There are ups,
downs, and all kinds of feelings in between. They say that “the camino” is a snapshot of your life and I would
definitely agree.
One of my discoveries and
affirmations along the way was “little
things make me happy”. I
created a new kind of "To
Do" list for myself; a list
that revolves around how I truly want to spend my life. I realized that I love to explore, go
off the path but not too far. I reaffirmed
that I really love and enjoy my time
alone, yet also enjoy the company of great quality people. Delicious homemade food, especially the
kind made with love, is also
important to me. “Sometimes the secret lies not in what you do, but how you do it” is a quote that resonated with me on
this journey.
I met a man that was in his
60’s that had walked from Switzerland, he mentioned a Buddhist quote that
really stuck with me; I started instituting this belief in my life there, and
will continue this for the rest of my life. It went something like
this: "When you sit, you sit, you eat, you eat, you drink, you drink,
so on and so on". That is what life is all about. I was
the queen of wanting to multitask everything because of my “goals and
destinations” but one day you look up realize most of your life has passed you
by, people are gone, and moments
lost. Being present means being present ALL the time. That quote and my experience of living that quote on the Camino, sticks with me now as I sit with my coffee and drink it. Far from my usual habit of: drink
my coffee, walk, work, text, make phone calls and trying to fill the empty
space. We sometimes feel we need to do something all the time and “fill
space” but this is where we miss the little important things in life and stop
actually living. I learned the importance of slowing down, enjoying
the things that are important to you, even if it takes an extra 5 or 10 minutes. It's amazing how that little time can change your perspective.
All this self reflection didn’t
just come down to enjoying my coffee,
but it forced me to look at everything;
especially the areas in my life where I need to focus more attention,
take more responsibility, and look at
honestly. Just like a blister on your foot from all the walking- if you don’t address it, it
doesn’t go away, and it can
actually get worse. Yeah, it's
not fun to deal with, but once you do, the blister eventually heals, you move
on, see more, and experience more. For me, I have greater peace in my
life not knowing what is ahead and greater confidence in knowing that I can
face anything that comes along.
I saw a quote that said, “
Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe its about
un-becoming everything that isn’t really you so you can be who you were meant
to be in the first place.”
“The Camino” brought me back to
things that are important to me...and
the confidence in those values and in myself.
Watch My Camino Mobile Slideshow
Watch My Camino Mobile Slideshow
