How did you integrate your camino experience with daily life?

[Thomas1962]

My last camino in september last year was again a very special and good experience for me.
Since then, I'm longing back to this camino and look forward to my next one. In the meantime I just lurk on this forum.
At the same time I realize that my head is on the camino, but my body and my daily life is here at home. I find myself in the situation that 11 months a year I am longing to do something else; it's not how life is supposed to be and how I want my life to be... I'm very happy with all the things I experienced on the camino, but at bad moments I blame the camino for making my daily life feeling less valid.

I'm looking for a way to integrate my camino experience in my daily life. At this moment it feels like two opposite worlds which I don't know how to integrate. I don't feel able to combine them

Do more people recognize this?

 

[Diogo92]

My last camino in september last year was again a very special and good experience for me.
Since then, I'm longing back to this camino and look forward to my next one. In the meantime I just lurk on this forum.
At the same time I realize that my head is on the camino, but my body and my daily life is here at home. I find myself in the situation that 11 months a year I am longing to do something else; it's not how life is supposed to be and how I want my life to be... I'm very happy with all the things I experienced on the camino, but at bad moments I blame the camino for making my daily life feeling less valid.

I'm looking for a way to integrate my camino experience in my daily life. At this moment it feels like two opposite worlds which I don't know how to integrate. I don't feel able to combine them

Do more people recognize this?

Why don't you join your nearest pilgrim organization?

 

[pbucilla]

We are all drawn to different things on the Camino. For some it's the spirit of community, for some it's the simplicity, for some it's the opportunity to explore deeper levels of their spirituality. For as many pilgrims as there are, there are reasons for walking. While on the Camino it's our joy, priviledge, and responsibility to discover more about ourselves and how we position ourselves in our world. Think back to that time Thomas when you were on the Camino. What drew you to the Camino in the first place? What did you learn along the Camino? What experiences, attitudes, practices, knowledge can be used to improve everyday life, to make it more Camino like. Ask yourself what you treasured most about the experience while on the Camino and integrate that one thing into your life at home. I hope you find what you're looking for.

 

[mspath]

From 2004 through 2013 I have walked the Camino Frances in its entirety
nine times. ... Subsequently providing information about the Camino has become a particular pleasure whether talking directly with another pilgrim or writing alone for an unknown reader; since 2009 sharing and participating in this unique Forum is now part of my daily life.... I would feel lost without it.

 

[Kathy F.]

Hi, Thomas!
What is it about your "real" life that feels so out of touch with your Camino reality?
My DH tells friends that I was and wasn't a different person after my Camino. He couldn't put a finger on what was different, though, any more than I could. Integrating those two "me"s is a pleasure and a challenge. The Camino is intoxicating, in a good way, and can be addictive. A good addiction.

 

[hnguyen]

I've heard people using terms like "life-changing", "transformative" etc. to describe their camino experience. I can't say that these terms apply to me in the sense that I'm not changing my career (late 60s, semi-retired) nor getting a divorce (married over 4 decades). However, the camino experience definitely has had powerful effects on me, in small and big ways. First, the small changes: I no longer drive around to search for the closest parking spot to the mall entrance. I now avoid the elevators/escalators/automated walkways in buildings, malls and airports. While traveling (recently Yangon, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh...), I get a city map and walk around to various sites - be the distance 10, 15 or 20 kilometers - something that would never have occurred to me previously. On a more substantial level: having completed the CF in May 2013 after many days of pain, forcing myself to get up in the morning, lacing my boots and putting one foot in front of the other, I know that most anything is now possible! This task of completing the CF may seem easy for many, however, for a polio survivor (whose younger sister succumbed to the same disease), with an artificial knee, this hike was beyond my wildest dream just a few years ago. In my post-camino life I also try not to sweat the small stuffs. I strive to be more patient. I search for simplicity. So yes, had I been a few decades younger, I would certainly say that the camino had a life-changing effect on me. I do not consciously look for ways to integrate the camino experience into my daily life. Things just happen. The camino was definitely powerful!!

 

[RoadLessTraveler]

My last camino in september last year was again a very special and good experience for me.
Since then, I'm longing back to this camino and look forward to my next one. In the meantime I just lurk on this forum.
At the same time I realize that my head is on the camino, but my body and my daily life is here at home. I find myself in the situation that 11 months a year I am longing to do something else; it's not how life is supposed to be and how I want my life to be... I'm very happy with all the things I experienced on the camino, but at bad moments I blame the camino for making my daily life feeling less valid.

I'm looking for a way to integrate my camino experience in my daily life. At this moment it feels like two opposite worlds which I don't know how to integrate. I don't feel able to combine them

Do more people recognize this?

 

[Kanga]

What keeps me from being on the Camino is my "ordinary" life and the people I love.

Without them I would certainly be free to walk the Camino.

That realisation was the light bulb that went off in my head one day. Be careful what you wish for!

It makes me give thanks daily that I am not free to walk the Camino.

Sometimes its just a matter of changing the way we look at things.

 

[Pruden]

I got nothing to say ! but been 60 years old with a family and still working , Camino is something very important for me as well as my family .....and thinking the next time I will walk give me strength for the daily life .
Yes it's very addictive , but I like it the way I feel it .....to me is a good adicción .
Buen Camino in your daily life.!

 

[Kanga]

As the song says: "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...."

 

[OzAnnie]

My last camino in september last year was again a very special and good experience for me.
Since then, I'm longing back to this camino and look forward to my next one. In the meantime I just lurk on this forum.
At the same time I realize that my head is on the camino, but my body and my daily life is here at home. I find myself in the situation that 11 months a year I am longing to do something else; it's not how life is supposed to be and how I want my life to be... I'm very happy with all the things I experienced on the camino, but at bad moments I blame the camino for making my daily life feeling less valid.

I'm looking for a way to integrate my camino experience in my daily life. At this moment it feels like two opposite worlds which I don't know how to integrate. I don't feel able to combine them

Do more people recognize this?

Hi Thomas
A lot of us feel this way. I do. I feel addicted to learn more about the camino. The camino was like a feeling of coming home, back to our roots. Such a warm feeling of 'belonging' to a huge family of the past, present and future pilgrims.
Reading comments by Margaret Meredith always make me feel like I am part of a wonderful caring family on the Forum. She always puts it just right and has encyclopaedic knowledge. IMO.
Reading Kanga's comment is also very sobering to me - I must be careful what I wish for, and her last comment has me singing the tune!!
Personally, I didn't feel anything magical when I arrived in Sdc ., as it was tough going in places, but after returning home , I feel the need to share the magic of what I experienced. Everyone thinks you're crazy for going back to where you've been! But I'm not Robinson Crusoe there! Hopefully I can understand people a little more now and I've learnt to be positive and continue to encourage.

Never give up

Annie

 

[MichaelB10398]

My last camino in september last year was again a very special and good experience for me.
Since then, I'm longing back to this camino and look forward to my next one. In the meantime I just lurk on this forum.
At the same time I realize that my head is on the camino, but my body and my daily life is here at home. I find myself in the situation that 11 months a year I am longing to do something else; it's not how life is supposed to be and how I want my life to be... I'm very happy with all the things I experienced on the camino, but at bad moments I blame the camino for making my daily life feeling less valid.

I'm looking for a way to integrate my camino experience in my daily life. At this moment it feels like two opposite worlds which I don't know how to integrate. I don't feel able to combine them

Do more people recognize this?

Friend, I suspect that many sense this same feeling you describe in varying degrees. I believe that each of us is capable of employing the qualities of life we found so appealing on Camino into our daily life. Spend some time identifying what you valued so much on Camino and begin to reflect those things in your daily life. Our lifestyles are not as simplistic as we experience on Camino; it is complicated by demands and expectations of others and our selves. We are forced to juggle more competing demands on our time from relationships, work, and a host of other "things".

The challenge for us is not a unilateral withdrawal from life, but a more disciplined way to engage life. Begin to emphasize those qualities that you found so appealing on Camino. If it was simplicity; begin to let go of much of the materialism that the world asks of us. If it was friendships then step out of the safe box that we put ourselves in and meet others just like you did on Camino. If it was nature then get out of the city on weekends or spend time in the parks that are available. If it was the spirituality of the Camino then begin to expand your spiritual experiences in your life.

For me, I find more time for spiritual reflection and contemplation. I find ways to listen to others and learn about their lives. The Camino is a journey that we are still on; it did not end in Santiago. We are not comfortable here because we are pilgrims here. This is not our place; it is not our home. The Camino brings us closer to our home. Find ways to do that where you live and know that you exist to have joy.

 

[madame_shepard]

Friend, I suspect that many sense this same feeling you describe in varying degrees. I believe that each of us is capable of employing the qualities of life we found so appealing on Camino into our daily life. Spend some time identifying what you valued so much on Camino and begin to reflect those things in your daily life. Our lifestyles are not as simplistic as we experience on Camino; it is complicated by demands and expectations of others and our selves. We are forced to juggle more competing demands on our time from relationships, work, and a host of other "things".

The challenge for us is not a unilateral withdrawal from life, but a more disciplined way to engage life. Begin to emphasize those qualities that you found so appealing on Camino. If it was simplicity; begin to let go of much of the materialism that the world asks of us. If it was friendships then step out of the safe box that we put ourselves in and meet others just like you did on Camino. If it was nature then get out of the city on weekends or spend time in the parks that are available. If it was the spirituality of the Camino then begin to expand your spiritual experiences in your life.

For me, I find more time for spiritual reflection and contemplation. I find ways to listen to others and learn about their lives. The Camino is a journey that we are still on; it did not end in Santiago. We are not comfortable here because we are pilgrims here. This is not our place; it is not our home. The Camino brings us closer to our home. Find ways to do that where you live and know that you exist to have joy.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this beautiful post!

 

[LTfit]

@Thomas1962 :
Due to a job change which includes more travel time (Leiden-Rotterdam) I have not been able to participate in the Forum as in the past but I always read through the daily e-mail and your post sprang out. I believe that many of us deal with this, specially us repeat offenders. I know that I have. MichaelB pretty much summed up my thoughts. When I returned from my first Camino in 2010 I asked myself the same question:
What is it that makes me so happy on the Camino? and continues to pull me back...
The answers were basically four-fold:

1. Walking long periods of time alone in contemplation or with fellow pilgrims
2. Being outside, taking a deep breath of fresh air
3. The simplicity of daily life, no routines, no schedules to follow
4. Being truely "present", with little inner or outer "noise"

I have practiced Vipassana meditation in the past (sitting, without outside distraction) and have hiked many mountains but the Camino provides me with it all, in one nice package: it is a walking meditation.
So how do I resolve this?

1. Walk at home (we have enough LAW here in NL right?). Walk with fellow pilgrims whenever possible.
2. Go to the dunes on Sundays, bike or walk to go shopping.
3. Don't over schedule myself, leave room for serendipity.
4. This is the most important for me: being "present" in my everyday activities and in my contact with others. I am a physiotherpist-acupuncturist and work with people all day long. And every single day I tell myself this: be quiet and listen.

I do not see the Camino as something distinct from my daily life. It is with me everyday. And I go back frequently to get my yearly (or recently bi- or tri-yearly) dose.

I wish you well Thomas.

 

[JennyH94]

Hi Thomas -

The following wise words were posted on Bill Bennett's PGS The Way Camino Portuguese blog earlier today - they might help you.

Ellie writes: "I’ve been thinking about your post all day. I’m a friend of your fellow pilgrim, Cathy from the U.S. While I have never personally been a pilgrim, I think that the camino allows you to shed the distractions and monetary vestiges of everyday life to let you see the core attributes and flaws you possess. I think that the key is to take what you learn back to your everyday life and remember what your strong suits are and what weaknesses you need to overcome. It’s a privilege to be able to do this and I hope, one day, I can also gain this insight."

Recognise your strengths and work on regaining your sense of balance and you may find that you can integrate your Camino experience into your everyday life.

Good luck - Jenny

 

[Tammi Murray]

What keeps me from being on the Camino is my "ordinary" life and the people I love.

Without them I would certainly be free to walk the Camino.

That realisation was the light bulb that went off in my head one day. Be careful what you wish for!

It makes me give thanks daily that I am not free to walk the Camino.

Sometimes its just a matter of changing the way we look at things.

Why do you feel that you cannot walk the Camino because of your "'ordinary' life and the people [you] love"? What aspects of your ordinary life prevent you? How do the people that you love prevent you?

 

[Thomas1962]

There are so many wonderful and warm things written, I need to re-read all the posts and chew on it the coming days.

By reading, I realized more deeply that my present job doesn't connect me with the roots I got in touch again while on the camino. I try to get more clear about what roots I found on the camino. First step for integration...

Thank you for all your posts!

 

[indyinmaine]

I've heard people using terms like "life-changing", "transformative" etc. to describe their camino experience. I can't say that these terms apply to me in the sense that I'm not changing my career (late 60s, semi-retired) nor getting a divorce (married over 4 decades). However, the camino experience definitely has had powerful effects on me, in small and big ways. First, the small changes: I no longer drive around to search for the closest parking spot to the mall entrance. I now avoid the elevators/escalators/automated walkways in buildings, malls and airports. While traveling (recently Yangon, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh...), I get a city map and walk around to various sites - be the distance 10, 15 or 20 kilometers - something that would never have occurred to me previously. On a more substantial level: having completed the CF in May 2013 after many days of pain, forcing myself to get up in the morning, lacing my boots and putting one foot in front of the other, I know that most anything is now possible! This task of completing the CF may seem easy for many, however, for a polio survivor (whose younger sister succumbed to the same disease), with an artificial knee, this hike was beyond my wildest dream just a few years ago. In my post-camino life I also try not to sweat the small stuffs. I strive to be more patient. I search for simplicity. So yes, had I been a few decades younger, I would certainly say that the camino had a life-changing effect on me. I do not consciously look for ways to integrate the camino experience into my daily life. Things just happen. The camino was definitely powerful!!

WWWWOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!!

 

[Kanga]

Why do you feel that you cannot walk the Camino because of your "'ordinary' life and the people [you] love"? What aspects of your ordinary life prevent you? How do the people that you love prevent you?

I need me to care for them - personally and physically care for them. Due to age and illness. Others could do it but because I love them my choice is to do it myself. So you are correct, they are not "preventing" me, I am.

 

[Catarina Barreiros]

When I finished my Camino I also felt a bit empty, as if something was missing...
What helped me a lot was to think of myself as a pilgrim - from now on, all of us are this 'thing' we weren't before: now we are pilgrims! And this makes a lot of difference.
A pilgim is someone who walks towards what is holy. So it helped a lot to think of myself as walking towards what is holy in MY life, in the life I live now, everyday.
So the first thing I had to do was to discover what is holy to me. And I realized that what truly is holy to me is my marriage, my husband, my children, my Family and friends - all of them are holy to me.
So how do I 'walk towards' them? How do I treat them? Speak to them? Spend my time with them? As if they were really holy? Or not?
This helped me and changed the way I see myself and my life. To think of myself as a pilgrim in my own life somehow makes me feel close to the Camino, to all other pilgrims and to God.

 

[tyrrek]

What helped me a lot was to think of myself as a pilgrim - from now on, all of us are this 'thing' we weren't before: now we are pilgrims!.

I also have this sense of being a pilgrim, and have worn my small 2 euro scallop shell round my neck every day since my first Camino to remind me. I find that it has helped to think of myself as always being on a journey, and a lot of the parallels between the Camino and life have a resonance for me. In a few weeks I will celebrate my first dry year in a long time. It was a bit of a Route Napoleon at first, but I‘m now metaphorically hitting the Meseta and planning a short Camino from Ourense to give thanks (and mix my metaphors).

 

[AshaDasi]

My last camino in september last year was again a very special and good experience for me.
Since then, I'm longing back to this camino and look forward to my next one. In the meantime I just lurk on this forum.
At the same time I realize that my head is on the camino, but my body and my daily life is here at home. I find myself in the situation that 11 months a year I am longing to do something else; it's not how life is supposed to be and how I want my life to be... I'm very happy with all the things I experienced on the camino, but at bad moments I blame the camino for making my daily life feeling less valid.

I'm looking for a way to integrate my camino experience in my daily life. At this moment it feels like two opposite worlds which I don't know how to integrate. I don't feel able to combine them

Do more people recognize this?

Hi Thomas, what you are feeling is very natural for someone who has experienced a deep internal shift on the camino. You have touched something profound within yourself, and that is something that you are still processing. It happened to me, and to a lot of people who walk the camino. Though it is uncomfortable at times, there isn't anything to do except flow with it. In a sense, you are still walking; something is still shifting into place within you. Just accept it for as long as it lasts, and it will eventually run its course and you will move into the new self. Some people walk every year, and others eventually move on to something else entirely. Let it come to you. Stay on the forum as long as it serves you and just accept your internal movement. It will all sort itself out as it has done for us. Much love to you on this wonderfully profound journey. Buen camino.

 

[Laurie Bryan Larson]

Friend, I suspect that many sense this same feeling you describe in varying degrees. I believe that each of us is capable of employing the qualities of life we found so appealing on Camino into our daily life. Spend some time identifying what you valued so much on Camino and begin to reflect those things in your daily life. Our lifestyles are not as simplistic as we experience on Camino; it is complicated by demands and expectations of others and our selves. We are forced to juggle more competing demands on our time from relationships, work, and a host of other "things".

The challenge for us is not a unilateral withdrawal from life, but a more disciplined way to engage life. Begin to emphasize those qualities that you found so appealing on Camino. If it was simplicity; begin to let go of much of the materialism that the world asks of us. If it was friendships then step out of the safe box that we put ourselves in and meet others just like you did on Camino. If it was nature then get out of the city on weekends or spend time in the parks that are available. If it was the spirituality of the Camino then begin to expand your spiritual experiences in your life.

For me, I find more time for spiritual reflection and contemplation. I find ways to listen to others and learn about their lives. The Camino is a journey that we are still on; it did not end in Santiago. We are not comfortable here because we are pilgrims here. This is not our place; it is not our home. The Camino brings us closer to our home. Find ways to do that where you live and know that you exist to have joy.

Interesting what you wrote "This is not our place; it is not our home. The Camino brings us closer to our home." That really resonates for me in terms of the draw that the Camino has for me after having completed my first pilgrimage last fall. And you're right--it is about continuing to integrate that feeling into our daily life. Distilling it all down to truly being in the moment.

 

[tploomis]

There were personal changes that happened for me on the Camino. I became less anxious and more open to people and experiences that happened to me. I became more aware of where I am in the course of my life, and while the end is definitely getting closer, it's not over yet. I have a lot of living still to do, and I want the rest of it to be as rich in experience as was my journey on the Camino. I learned that I am capable of more than I thought. The challenge for me after the Camino is to keep these lessons learned and practice them in my daily life. For me it's easy to fall back to old, self-limiting habits. I want to make the most of the time I have left. How to do that is the challenge of the rest of my life.

 

[kaiel]

I have been enjoying and practicing the realization that anything can be accomplished if I keep putting one foot in front of the other...

 

[Jamilla's mum]

... I realize that my head is on the camino, but my body and my daily life is here at home. I find myself in the situation that 11 months a year I am longing to do something else; it's not how life is supposed to be and how I want my life to be... I'm very happy with all the things I experienced on the camino, but at bad moments I blame the camino for making my daily life feeling less valid.

I'm looking for a way to integrate my camino experience in my daily life. At this moment it feels like two opposite worlds which I don't know how to integrate. I don't feel able to combine them.

As someone who hasn't yet walked the Camino Santiago de Compostella, perhaps I'm being presumptuous in attempting an answer? But 'Camino' means 'way', or 'path', and I've been on a personal - though guided - path for the past 14 or so years.
This Camino is a bit of a fast-track to changing one's life. But it seems to me that for many it becomes an addiction. I hope that won't happen with me, and I don't expect it to. I've been sent to many places which I initially considered outside my comfort zone, found much joy in being there, and slowly learned to add the experience to my daily life - which becomes one of service.

The lessons that we learn along the way are significant. But then it's time to put them into practice - and that can sometimes seem boring, because no longer a challenge. What I find useful is daily reflection; in the morning giving thanks for life, in the evening going over the day and seeing where I could have maybe done better.
Walking a difficult path is a little bit like a whole life journey, condensed and refined. The uphill treks become a counterpart to dealing with tiring or difficult people / situations; we learn to draw on our extra reserves of energy or patience. The pain of blisters or cramps is mirrored by the anguish of seeing loved ones becoming ill or old. The help and comradeship we share on our camino becomes helping our friends and neighbours when and wherever we can.

Walking the Camino over and over again is maybe a bit like falling in love - a crazy addiction that, hopefully, grows into learning what is the reality behind the excitement. This reality is much quieter, much less exciting and - dare I say it - much less satisfying to the ego. But it's part of growing up.

(And, just maybe, I'm taking through a hole in my head. After all, I haven't walked it, haven't yet been bitten by the Camino bug. )

 

[weekjchammings]

Hello Mum,

You know that I will be disappointed not to meet you this as I am sure you told me you are better looking than Jamilla.
But as you say you have not walked it yet.....................Better to do something once than talk about it a thousand times.............Asian Proverb

 

[Jamilla's mum]

You know that I will be disappointed not to meet you this as I am sure you told me you are better looking than Jamilla.

Oh, I'm sure I NEVER said that, Keith.
But, likewise, I'm disappointed not to be meeting YOU. Do you have any walking plans in England for later in the year? I'm thinking of Glastonbury to Avebury, maybe...
Buen Camino.

 

[weekjchammings]

Oh, I'm sure I NEVER said that, Keith.
But, likewise, I'm disappointed not to be meeting YOU. Do you have any walking plans in England for later in the year? I'm thinking of Glastonbury to Avebury, maybe...
Buen Camino.

Hi,
You will soon get used to my sense of humour. Yes when I return from the VDLP then the Camino Ingles, Muxia and Finisterre I go to Nijmegen in the Netherlands, their annual Vierdaagse March. Later in July I will walk Offa's Dyke Path for the 7th time it passes very close to my home.
I saw Glastonury tor in the distance last year on my walk to Santiago from Wales.
Wish you well and Jamilla.

 

[OzAnnie]

The lessons that we learn along the way are significant. But then it's time to put them into practice - and that can sometimes seem boring, because no longer a challenge. What I find useful is daily reflection; in the morning giving thanks for life, in the evening going over the day and seeing where I could have maybe done better.
Walking a difficult path is a little bit like a whole life journey, condensed and refined. The uphill treks become a counterpart to dealing with tiring or difficult people / situations; we learn to draw on our extra reserves of energy or patience. The pain of blisters or cramps is mirrored by the anguish of seeing loved ones becoming ill or old. The help and comradeship we share on our camino becomes helping our friends and neighbours when and wherever we can.
: )

Hi Jamilla's mum
I really don't think it matters when replying to this question, whether your camino had been in Spain or not. As you said in your original post, Camino is 'way'. The lessons you learnt on your 'ways' (how to put them into practise) are valid and you no doubt would have much to teach us. Thankyou.
Buen Camino