- Time of past OR future Camino
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Possibly one needs to take the lessons of the Camino on into life. I am at the stage of working out how to do this. Keeping doing Caminos, is in my opinion, is not the answer for me. For me to keep doing Camino is a trap, to be aware of.So like be careful. You've been out there for a while, met all these cool people, You probably exercised more than you ever have in your life. Your daily responsibilities were limited to waking up, eating, walking, eating again, walking more, finding a place to stay, eating, and then sleeping. Watch out... sometimes when you come back it is difficult to adjust to the "real" world. My solution: just do another
Possibly one needs to take the lessons of the Camino on into life. I am at the stage of working out how to do this. Keeping doing Caminos, is in my opinion, is not the answer for me. For me to keep doing Camino is a trap, to be aware of.
Realising that I don't want to be there ALL the time was really helpful for me. It allows me to enjoy what caminos I can walk, and enjoy being home too and all the good things that come with that (reading, writing, creating, relationships, making sourdough bread, a fluffy towel, a warm body in the bed next to me, washing machine) - there is a season for everything.
Close.always loved those word in @NadineK video "The Camino starts when you end, the Camino never ends" or something like that.
That’s the best word to describe what I’ve been feeling since last year when I came back…longing. This continues to amaze me as there were many moments and days on the camino where I was thinking I would not repeat the experience.It can just leave a 'longing
Thank you @davejsy that is beautifully expressed and so true.'Sometimes that feeling might knaw away at us making us sad, much like the memory of someone you lost - but ultimately, like grief, we learn it's a privilage to have had something that we now miss so much.'
I wish I did! I have walked once, and rather than satisfying me it left me only wanting more. I am going back this coming spring and already it’s all I seem to think about. I tell everyone I know that since walking I am Camino-haunted.So like be careful. You've been out there for a while, met all these cool people, You probably exercised more than you ever have in your life. Your daily responsibilities were limited to waking up, eating, walking, eating again, walking more, finding a place to stay, eating, and then sleeping. Watch out... sometimes when you come back it is difficult to adjust to the "real" world. My solution: just do another walk.
Anyone have a better solution?
Ahhh me too ....Nope, it's the only solution. Unfortunately, I don't have the money or EU passport to spend more time than I do on the Camino.
I have been feeling very blahhh since returning home in early July.
I'm sorry you don't plan a return to the Camino, but glad you are at peace with that and that of course the Camino remains alive and well in you.Thank you @davejsy that is beautifully expressed and so true.
My passport expired in June and won't be renewed, my savings no longer exist, I am in my 76th year and despite being fit there will be no return to walking a Camino for me. My feelings about this are not ones of sadness rather of gratitude for being able to spend a month of my life walking from SJPDP to SDC. I was fortunate that the alignment of good health, sufficient funds, and the support of family who took care of our animals and plants, freed me to make that journey in 2015. It is an experience that has informed almost every day of my life since returning home and the words quoted above by @Peterexpatkiwi that
" The camino begins when the walking ends
The camino never ends
This is the Camino." really hits the mark.
Some also find getting involved with their local pilgrim community helps. Some look at how they can apply their learnings from the Camino to the "real" world. That can take different forms. Some declutter, having learned how little they really need in the way of "stuff" to be happy. I must admit that decluttering has not been my path. One approach I have taken is to have my daily life a mixture of simple routines and longer term projects that I can proceed along at my own pace, making gradual progress and knowing that, so long as I continue progressing, eventually I will get there.So like be careful. You've been out there for a while, met all these cool people, You probably exercised more than you ever have in your life. Your daily responsibilities were limited to waking up, eating, walking, eating again, walking more, finding a place to stay, eating, and then sleeping. Watch out... sometimes when you come back it is difficult to adjust to the "real" world. My solution: just do another walk.
Anyone have a better solution?
I like what you wrote. I certainly believe your/our Camino is ongoing simply by being on this forum community.Hmm. Mixed thoughts on this. I'm quite empathetic with the desire to get back on a physical Camino. Buuuut.....
Many years ago, after a particular spiritual experience, I was lamenting over my inability to maintain that particular "high", that particular spiritual clarity, back in the "real world."
My mentor basically said, "That experience planted a seed in you, which, if you let it grow, will grow and change you. Trying to relive that high is like trying to grow a plant from a seed by continuously digging the seed up. Focus on growing the plant, instead."
Later, in marriage, I learned that the plant of lasting love wasn't grown by chasing the highs of infatuation, but about choosing to rely on and support my husband. What I experience today is so much more profound than I could have guessed 37 years ago....
I may be able to grow my soul by watering and feeding it with an additional Camino, as time and funds allow.
I *should* allow my soul to grow by implementing the lessons I'm still learning from Camino into the rest of my life.
Example. I own fewer possessions than I did before the Primitivo, and I keep cutting them back. A new pair of pants or shirt enters my closer? Two leave. Do I really need that triple backup medical kit? Away with it.
I fight to lighten my baggage, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. That's why my Camino is ongoing, whether or not I ever make it back.
Solution? No. A different perspective, perhaps. It seems that the Camino is often viewed as it is a specific period of time to do a pilgrim walk. This, perhaps, is not the case. It is possible a Camino does begin when the first trail step is taken and ending when the last trail step is taken. If the Camino was only a physical exercise then this might be the case but it is not. A Camino begins long before the frist step is taken as there is a 'leading up' to the Camino period--both mentally, physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. Furthermore, a Camino continues even after the physical Camino ends. As such, to view a Camino as having a beginning and ending in whatever country the Camino is being done is perhaps erroneous. When you return home from dong a Camino the Camino continues, whether you acknowledge it or not; whether you accept it or not. As such, there is no after-the-Camino adjustment period as a person has been 'adjusting' their whole life to the spiritual aspect to a Camino--there is no beginning; there is no end. Therefore, why ascribe a beginning and an end to a Camino. Of course, this does not apply to one doing a Camino purely for the physical/trekking experience. ChuckSo like be careful. You've been out there for a while, met all these cool people, You probably exercised more than you ever have in your life. Your daily responsibilities were limited to waking up, eating, walking, eating again, walking more, finding a place to stay, eating, and then sleeping. Watch out... sometimes when you come back it is difficult to adjust to the "real" world. My solution: just do another walk.
Anyone have a better solution?
I developed the opinion while I was on Camino that it might very well be a lot like summer camp when we were kids. Life changing, life affirming, a growth experience that you can't wait to get back to the next summer, but partly because it is not real life. There are cool people there, and you get to reinvent yourself if you want to. I think the only solution is to be planning your next Camino, even if it might not happen very soon.I think that's a great perspective.
We were seriously looked at buying an Albergue last year.
Went through the books, budgets etc.
And are still considering living in Spain.
But maybe just for a few months.
'Visiting' a place and living there are two totally different things!
We are lucky that we get to live in Thailand now and again. Family home is there.
But do we want to live there all the time? No. And Pat is Thai!
So we recognise that we love visiting Spain, but being there full time probably not.
We need to understand that the Camino is also rather a special place and environment.
It's great for a few weeks, but might be a challenge in larger doses.
The Roses might not smell so good.
At the end of my last one I was ready to go home.
But now I'm ready for a Camino again
On my first Camino I felt exactly like I was at summer camp for adults.I developed the opinion while I was on Camino that it might very well be a lot like summer camp when we were kids.
I walk. I walk around my neighborhood, which is by the beach. 7.5 miles a day. 2000+ miles a year. Yes, I am retired. As I was telling a friend just the other day, when I walk, the world is mine. And, although I walk the same 7.5 miles, through the same neighborhood, down the same beach, my mind is always somewhere. And sometimes it’s like I’m on the Camino, if only in my dreams.So like be careful. You've been out there for a while, met all these cool people, You probably exercised more than you ever have in your life. Your daily responsibilities were limited to waking up, eating, walking, eating again, walking more, finding a place to stay, eating, and then sleeping. Watch out... sometimes when you come back it is difficult to adjust to the "real" world. My solution: just do another walk.
Anyone have a better solution?
Do you have a local chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino?Nope, it's the only solution. Unfortunately, I don't have the money or EU passport to spend more time than I do on the Camino.
I have been feeling very blahhh since returning home in early July.
Yes, I co-founded it!Do you have a local chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino?
I'm sorry you don't plan a return to the Camino, but glad you are at peace with that and that of course the Camino remains alive and well in you.
The quote I attempted to quote, and @Peterexpatkiwi kindly corrected is at the end of this wonderful Youtube video by @NadineK - give it a watch if you can, I'm sure it will evoke wonderful memories as it does for many:
I don't recommend many YouTube Camino videos, but this one from @NadineK, and this one by @dwen capture the spirit of the Camino for me:I'm sorry you don't plan a return to the Camino, but glad you are at peace with that and that of course the Camino remains alive and well in you.
The quote I attempted to quote, and @Peterexpatkiwi kindly corrected is at the end of this wonderful Youtube video by @NadineK - give it a watch if you can, I'm sure it will evoke wonderful memories as it does for many:
I am always ready to go back home to those I love and care about, but eventually look forward to going on a Camino again, usually trying a new path. I like the excitement of what seems like a new adventure waiting to unfold.At the end of my last one I was ready to go home.
But now I'm ready for a Camino again
AmenThis may sound odd to some. The camino last year was the first time I gifted myself “time”. It was not really possible before. Been back over a year now and part of my spirit never left those trails. I’m not living in the past but learning to incorporate this blessed experience into my daily life. Part of “me” will always be there and as such I just had an epiphany today as I’m washing my windows of all things…I will forever be on a camino in my heart. Forever and a day.
Thanks David. I love this- very moving- it brought tears to my eyes.OK, if we are recommending short videos to capture the spirit of the Camino, I can't resist adding this one. Less than 4 minutes of your time.
No.So like be careful. You've been out there for a while, met all these cool people, You probably exercised more than you ever have in your life. Your daily responsibilities were limited to waking up, eating, walking, eating again, walking more, finding a place to stay, eating, and then sleeping. Watch out... sometimes when you come back it is difficult to adjust to the "real" world. My solution: just do another walk.
Anyone have a better solution?
“Anyone have a better solution?“ Until the next walk….pour a glass of wine and sit on the floor happily surrounded by maps and guidebooks.
well I hadn't sleep in a dorm room room with bunkbeds since I was a kid. So at 65 it let me relive a little of my youth.On my first Camino I felt exactly like I was at summer camp for adults.
What a beautifully made video.OK, if we are recommending short videos to capture the spirit of the Camino, I can't resist adding this one. Less than 4 minutes of your time.
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