I feel like I’ve been searching for meaning for a large part of my life. Home, solace, connection. Somehow I’ve been lucky enough to find some of it during my travels. How can we live more authentically in a way that’s meaningful for us? I’ve been thinking a lot about the potential answers to this question for the past year.
The Camino Santiago is a spiritual journey that takes one hiking across one of the many historical pilgrimage routes that span across three countries: Spain, France, and Portugal. I decided to start in Baiona, Galician Spain, where I would embark on a 130KM hike north to Compostela Santiago, where Saint James is supposedly buried at the Cathedral.
I’m not a hiker, nor am I Catholic. The longest hike I’ve done prior was 4 hours in Amalfi Coast. This was both a challenge I wanted to take on, and a time of reflection I desperately needed. Day to day, how often do we get to disconnect from the auto-pilot we’re on? How often do we take the moment to soak up our surroundings and appreciate what’s around us? To let go and dispose of all of our material things, and just walk with the necessities? What a rare and special experience.
7 days. 130KM. 15lbs Backpack.
Not impressive by any means compared to the average pilgrim I met, some who would start from 2000KM+ away and walk for months. But that was the beauty of the Camino. It didn’t have to be impressive to anyone else. The journey is not for anyone else, but oneself. There are no hard “rules.” You can walk from anywhere you’d like, walk for however long your legs and body wants to take you, at whatever pace best suits you. You can camp, stay at public albergues, private hostels, or at a hotel along the route, whichever fits your budget and needs. You can collect stamps along the way and get a certificate of completion at the end, or not.
Everyone says that the “Camino provides” and it surely did, but very differently than what I had imagined. My journey was actually a lot more lonesome than I had imagined. I started every morning at 5-6AM walking on my own, sometimes not speaking or seeing anyone for hours. I’ve never had so much time to myself apart from the Vipassana silent retreat back in 2016. I do believe everything happens for a reason, and my way of experiencing it was exactly what I needed. Time to think, to process.
While I guess that the search for meaning will be a continuous one until the end of life, perhaps there are always decisions and pathways we can take to get us a little closer to it. Closer to the life that we want. To get us a little bit more authentic to our true selves. This is what I got out of the Camino, and it helped me to think more creatively and brave about the things I want and how I can get there.
I’ve met so many through the Camino. Some for a quick hello, bon Camino, and some I had the privilege of getting to know more deeply. Thank you to everyone I’ve met along the way, to those that encouraged and supported me to go. This is something I’ll never forget, and I can’t wait for my next Camino.
I’ll end this note with the word I kept mustering to myself when things got hard on the walk:
Onwards.
English