Ok I´m home, I want to leave.

[Gwaihir]

Hello Pilgrims.

I just returned from the Camino a week ago, and what I feared would happen, happened.
I don´t like my country. The rat-race, the hurry... the amount of people who work themselves into a burn-out because it´s "necessary" somehow.

I struggled with this before the Camino, but now it´s a million times worse - the thought of living here long-term is unbearable.
So I am guessing I am leaving again. Work abroad for a while.

I am looking for people who can recognize this and also from people who actually decided: I am leaving my country.
Was it a slow realization, or a fast one, and what steps did you take to make it true?

Gwaihir.

 

[t2andreo]

Many of us from around the world feel exactly the same way. I know I do. However, our responsibilities, or perhaps visa laws, get in the way.

I wish you every success, happiness and good health, wherever you go.

 

[simply B]

@Gwaihir -

I hear you, loud and clear!

My first Camino was an unplanned result of my need to get out of my country during a national election season. Five days in, I was finding the whole Camino experience rather alien. Another few days and I was just confused by it. Just about three weeks of walking and I came to the realization that it was "home". On a later Camino, someone asked what could prompt me to get so far out of my "comfort zone". "I understand your question", I replied, "I hope that you can understand my answer. The Camino IS my "comfort zone" now."

Life, and work, in another country is not certain to provide you with much distance from what you now find disconcerting in your native land. I have been traveling for 30 years and have a lot of experience in other cultures. A mere handful I have found to my personal taste and other people would make different selections for sure.

For the moment, I am "in drydock" walking the planks of "responsible" grandfathering, husbanding, and being available to extended family. But I have a short list ready for when the opportunity avails itself, if ever.

International Living has great resources to help you explore options right down to which places might be deserving of your personal visit or trial stay. Link here (and I have no commercial relationship nor benefit to glean from the link): https://signup.internationalliving.com/X120V207?msclkid=48f97d3fe2ec1f66cf1f20d67fb52856

It may not be the best resource available but represents a trifling investment to get "the big picture".

B

 

[mmmmartin]

Listen, sunshine, you live in the Netherlands. This is a beacon of sanity in a world gone mad. Your prime minister is well respected. The Camino calls you, as it does all of us. Is suggest you think yourself lucky, and plan some time either as a volunteer in the pilgrim office or as a hospitalero, and once you have that under your belt you can go back to it again and again.

 

[Gwaihir]

Martin, other sunshine, my experience of my own country might be different from yours. The "beacon of sanity" is very subjective and your opinion, which I don´t share. Sure there are things to be thankful for here, but for me the negative overwhelms the positive.

@simply B: yes! I can relate to the Camino being alien at first. In fact the entire Camino was alien, up until the border with Spain, in Navarra, where I finally "got" it. Weird how after months of walking, you find yourself on the "original Camino" so to speak, and suddenly it makes sense.

I am aware that other countries have their drawbacks too. They might be as crazy busy as this one, or have other drawbacks. I was brought up in Spain and I hated parts of it just as much, although it was always a more love-and-hate type of thing (which is normal).

Due to the circumstances - no permanent job to keep me here, no wife or children - I have a lot of freedom. I met people in Santiago who ditched their job and were just traveling, working odd jobs here and there. Some of them slept under porches even with terrible weather, which I thought was both mad and brave.

But there are plenty of opportunities to work for people in exchange for food and shelter, like wwoofing. I wouldn´t really need some five-star income to do something like that.

 

[simply B]

@Gwaihir -

My son went wwoofing for 6 months and totally loved the experience. And you have the same level of freedom that he did at the time.

I apologize for any inference that I might have made about requiring a "five-star income" as that had not been my intent. One of my criteria actually for an alternative place to live is the ability to subsist on rather modest income as can be generated by teaching English, pruning fruit trees, helping harvest, or providing temporary assistance to businesses as a technical advisor or translating their "numbers" into managerial action. I am rather happy to help with "odd jobs" myself but a tricky back leaves me out of the ranks of diggers and packers of totes. (A 10 kg pack, whilst on Camino does not seem to be a problem though.)

Whatever you decide, "Buen Camino"!

B

 

[t2andreo]

If you plan to spend most of your time in Spain, you must learn Spanish. English as a second language is not as prevalent as in the Netherlands.

I recommend using www.duolingo.com to start, as it is free. There is also an app for your smartphone.

Spain has a high unemployment rate. If you are going to try to obtain work there, learning Spanish is a must.

Clearly, you already have Dutch and English as fluent languages. As you seek employment consider something in the tourism or hospitality areas where your language skills will help greatly. This is why you need to obtain conversational level Spanish as soon as you can.

Succes!

Hope this helps.

 

[VNwalking]

Steady there, brother.
You're right.
But the good thing is that while everyone around you is up to their necks in stress, you don't have to participate in the endless striving that creates it. We actually need very little. And while you're contemplating an different way of being in the world, find ways to give yourself space...walk along the river, out in nature.

The hard truth that we all face at some point is wherever we go, the mind comes with us. There's no escape from that. So if there's habitual dissatisfaction, and Holland is merely the current target of that, no matter where you go it'll come up again. Ultimately, external conditions are never the suffering - it's how we relate to them that creates that.

Which is not to say you shouldn't 'hit the road.' It's in the going that will show you what's what and where your current dissatisfaction cones from. So give it a go and see where life takes you. You absolutely don't have to robotically follow the herd, living to work, rather than the other way around.

I stopped living a like everyone else 20 years ago and have never looked back.

 

[trecile]

On a later Camino, someone asked what could prompt me to get so far out of my "comfort zone". "I understand your question", I replied, "I hope that you can understand my answer. The Camino IS my "comfort zone" now."

Yup. I came to that realization about halfway through my second Camino.

 

[t2andreo]

Listen to VNWalking. She knows what she is talking about.

Really, she totally does. You might want to open a chat with her as a Private Conversation.

 

[Anniesantiago]

There are places in Italy and Sicily where you can buy a house for 1 euro. If I were young I’d do it in a heartbeat

 

[Former member 59618]

Hello Pilgrims.

I just returned from the Camino a week ago, and what I feared would happen, happened.
I don´t like my country. The rat-race, the hurry... the amount of people who work themselves into a burn-out because it´s "necessary" somehow.

I struggled with this before the Camino, but now it´s a million times worse - the thought of living here long-term is unbearable.
So I am guessing I am leaving again. Work abroad for a while.

I am looking for people who can recognize this and also from people who actually decided: I am leaving my country.
Was it a slow realization, or a fast one, and what steps did you take to make it true?

Gwaihir.

Oh I’m right there with you. My first Camino solidified that I’m not cut out for the typical American, 9-5, consumer-oriented, stay in one place, way of life. I knew this but I fought it for a long time, wanting to be “normal”. But after coming home I couldn’t deny it and also being home after the Camino was really painful. However, I don’t regret it because I needed to clean up some parts of my life before I took off last fall for my longer Camino. I bumbled around in a job or two before realizing I needed to get serious, save a crapload of money, settle some debts and make plans....and take off.
The point @VNwalking also makes about wherever you go, there you are, couldn’t be truer. I’m experiencing that right now so...make peace with your mind and habitual patterns. Tease out your inner world and “others” because again, wherever you go, there you are.
Be true to yourself! Peace!

 

[Gwaihir]

@simply B Not at all! The reaction was not caused by anything you said I view working in quite the same way as you. Although I did think about getting a teaching degree here first, so I can apply for a visa later. In Europe it´s much easier for me to move around.

Which is not to say you shouldn't 'hit the road.' It's in the going that will show you what's what and where your current dissatisfaction cones from

I think this is very spot on. Ever since arriving in Santiago I´ve been feeling there´s something missing, and this might just be it. I know the masses and the stress can also be elsewhere, although imho Netherlands is one of these countries where stress is a way of life - whereas not all countries have this problem. Usually the South is more laid-back but not free of problems.

 

[FLEUR]

Ask not what your town, city , country can do for you but look and see what you can perhaps contribute to surroundings and people around you.

 

[Aidan21]

Hi Gwaihir,

Happiness is an inside job. All the answers you need are within you. Your physical location does not change that. Your physical location may be useful in removing some of the day to day stress and thus allowing the inner you to bubble up into your consciousness, but your true happiness is within you, whether or not you are in the Netherlands, Spain or anywhere else on planet Earth.

I wish you well in your journey to find that which we all seek. Good Luck!!

Aidan

 

[Mark Di Marzio]

Many pilgrims can understand & relate to your words . Walking the Camino and then returning home can often make the world we came from and return back to seem strange and alien . We are transformed by our pilgrimage and things can never be or feel the same again . And this is often when the real Camino begins . I wish you well in your journey . Buen Camino

 

[Gwaihir]

This conversation is interesting to me, because it seems as though there is this thought that "running away doesn´t solve anything", I´m sorry if I am misconstructing your words.

It´s interesting because this is similar to the conversation pilgrims have prior to leaving for the camino. "Why are you running away from your problems". Leaving does not equal denial. Leaving can mean a temporary switch in order to get the brain to go on a different trail, pun intended.

I think my Camino is incomplete in the sense that I do not yet know how to integrate all of the peacefulness into my life, and I think I need a temporary transition setting where I can both work and try to be mindful at the same time, in a social setting.

The city is not a social setting by any means. People don´t communicate. People are in a hurry. I am not saying that life is somehow perfect elsewhere, or that I would be living in perfect harmony there, nor have I implied anything like it.

 

[linkster]

Maybe the camino, maybe my age, maybe an empty nest, maybe retired for too long .... WANDERLUST.

 

[Paladina]

I am looking for people who can recognize this and also from people who actually decided: I am leaving my country.
Was it a slow realization, or a fast one, and what steps did you take to make it true?

I understand where you are coming from, both literally and metaphorically, as I left my home country in pursuit of what was then known as ‘the good life’. 36 years later, I’m still living the dream of my youth, here in the west of Ireland. I’ve never regretted the decision, although the reality has proved harder than I had anticipated. Living outside the rat race involves no car - no road! - no mortgage, no mod cons, tv, smart phone etc., an irregular income, and well-developed survival skills. It also necessitates long periods of physical and social isolation when marooned by seasonal floods, with a thriving race of four-legged rats for company. Even now, life on the Camino is luxurious compared to daily life at home.

Whatever you decide to do, and wherever you decide to do it, I wish you well.

 

[daveag]

I totally get where you are coming from, @Gwaihir. I l’ve been where you are emotionally. The best advice I’ve ever gotten on this came from a friend and I experienced it when I lived outside my home country for an extended period of time. Here goes—when you’re an expat, you are never 100% satisfied wherever you are. When away, you begin to notice the good things about home and when home you pine for the good things about wherever your away place is.

This doesn’t commit us to cyclic misery. Rather, I think it teaches us many of the same lessons of pilgrimage—that we enjoy the moment, recognize that we’re on a journey, etc.

That said, I’m forever grateful for an opportunity to have lived abroad and that’s always on the list options of things to do, again, in the future. If living abroad is in your journey, I hope it’s everything you want and need... and that it happens soon.

 

[tpmchugh]

Hello Pilgrims.

I just returned from the Camino a week ago, and what I feared would happen, happened.
I don´t like my country. The rat-race, the hurry... the amount of people who work themselves into a burn-out because it´s "necessary" somehow.

I struggled with this before the Camino, but now it´s a million times worse - the thought of living here long-term is unbearable.
So I am guessing I am leaving again. Work abroad for a while.

I am looking for people who can recognize this and also from people who actually decided: I am leaving my country.
Was it a slow realization, or a fast one, and what steps did you take to make it true?

Gwaihir.

If it were possible, I would be living on or close to the camino. There is just something missing living in the ratrace even though I am retired and almost completely out of it

 

[Robo]

Hello Pilgrims.

I just returned from the Camino a week ago, and what I feared would happen, happened.
I don´t like my country. The rat-race, the hurry... the amount of people who work themselves into a burn-out because it´s "necessary" somehow.

I struggled with this before the Camino, but now it´s a million times worse - the thought of living here long-term is unbearable.
So I am guessing I am leaving again. Work abroad for a while.

I am looking for people who can recognize this and also from people who actually decided: I am leaving my country.
Was it a slow realization, or a fast one, and what steps did you take to make it true?

Gwaihir.

The Camino does come with severe 'side effects'
I've always thought it should come with a warning...........

Welcome to the post Camino World.
Good luck with your decisions.
At least you don't have any commitments to tie you down.

Maybe we could start a competition to pick the best 'Public Health Warning' to be applied to walking a Camino??

MENTAL HEALTH WARNING.
Walking a Camino, can be hazardous to your mental health, particularly for those over 30 years of age?

It can leave the Pilgrim with feelings of wanting to:

Abandon their 'previous life'.
Sell all their possessions except 2 changes of drab looking clothes,
Withdraw from 'normal' life and spend hours a day just 'thinking'.
Live in a remote 'hut' somewhere on a mountain to be closer to nature.
Avoid those who just want to talk about 'material' things and how busy their lives are.....


Many of us I think are left rather like a Wandering Albatross.
We spend the rest of our lives searching............for what, we may not be sure.......
We just know we have been given a cruel taste of it........

 

[Deleted member 59555]

Hello Pilgrims.

I just returned from the Camino a week ago, and what I feared would happen, happened.
I don´t like my country. The rat-race, the hurry... the amount of people who work themselves into a burn-out because it´s "necessary" somehow.

I struggled with this before the Camino, but now it´s a million times worse - the thought of living here long-term is unbearable.
So I am guessing I am leaving again. Work abroad for a while.

I am looking for people who can recognize this and also from people who actually decided: I am leaving my country.
Was it a slow realization, or a fast one, and what steps did you take to make it true?

Gwaihir.

I have just finished a book about three Camino's French way I will leave the title of the book to the last line. This post brings me to tears, I am just like you Gwaihir, I live in New Zealand I am 70, I don't like NZ anymore and man do I get stick for that all | can say to people to defend myself is. (you don't understand).
I walked the first in 2017 on my own along the way I found two good people that I had fallen out with over the years and I now have a great relationship with both of them again. One was me and the other was my God.
Second trip 2018 with a film crew that all I will say about that walk.
The third trip with my eldest daughter (I have four of them) this was a wonderful experience.
You go and follow your dream volunteer at the albergues don't die wondering.
Robo said about the mental warning. Boy ain't that the truth.
I feel for you my friend you are part of my Camino family.
O yes the title of the book.. (God's Cocaine. the addiction of the Camino.)
Good luck God bless.

 

[LTfit]

Steady there, brother.
You're right.
But the good thing is that while everyone around you is up to their necks in stress, you don't have to participate in the endless striving that creates it. We actually need very little. And while you're contemplating an different way of being in the world, find ways to give yourself space...walk along the river, out in nature.

The hard truth that we all face at some point is wherever we go, the mind comes with us. There's no escape from that. So if there's habitual dissatisfaction, and Holland is merely the current target of that, no matter where you go it'll come up again. Ultimately, external conditions are never the suffering - it's how we relate to them that creates that.

Which is not to say you shouldn't 'hit the road.' It's in the going that will show you what's what and where your current dissatisfaction cones from. So give it a go and see where life takes you. You absolutely don't have to robotically follow the herd, living to work, rather than the other way around.

I stopped living a like everyone else 20 years ago and have never looked back.

Lots of wisdom in your words @VNwalking (as usual ). It made me think of Jon Kabar-Zinn's book: Waar je ook gaat daar ben je (the original English title is. Wherever you go, there you are).

One of the challenges for many pilgrims returning home is to find a way to meaningfully integrate the Camino experience into their daily lives. I remember very clearly that when I returned the first time I asked myself: "Why did I feel so content walking 800 km across Spain?" I then attempted to integrate elements of my answer into my daily life. Almost 10 years on I am pleased to say that I have been fairly successful. Of course going back to Spain a few times per year to walk or volunteer as a hospitalera has helped too .

p.s. It's all subjective I know, but after growing up in the U.S., The Netherlands (where I have lived for the past 27 years) is far from the "rat-race" one experiences on the other side of the pond.

 

[Dani7]

The most important journey in life is leaning to know and love oneself. Know our limits and boundaries and express them to others, know our wants vs needs and learn to forgive ourselves and accept that we are perfectly imperfect. I think your idea of getting a teaching degree is very smart as this is a very transportable profession. I have lived outside of Canada and this is where I leaned to truly appreciate the country of my birth. The time away showed me where my roots are but it also showed me I can plant seeds elsewhere. Listen to your heart, it is where your home truly is. You are a brave person and I feel that you will find your home inside of you someday. My journey in life is not to get it all or do it all...rather it’s to “get it” and “do it”.

Buen life Camino.

 

[t2andreo]

Dani...

I so totally agreed with this. You wrote: "...I have lived outside of Canada and this is where I leaned to truly appreciate the country of my birth. The time away showed me where my roots are but it also showed me I can plant seeds elsewhere. Listen to your heart, it is where your home truly is..."

This is my circumstance as well. The 'rub' is that the nearly two months I spend in Spain and Santiago annually are not enough. But, it is what it is. At some point, your roots serve to hold you firmly in one place... But, I can still sow seeds...

Great post!

 

[PeteAJ]

The camino broadened my horizons and made travel in general seem more doable. I came away feeling Spain and Portugal really might both be more humane places to be but that feeling could be tied to both novelty and the freedom of the experience. I like that people hinting some of this might be about mindset or personal company. That said, with wanderlust and ability to work remotely/abroad, I saw this site that could get ideas turning: https://nomadlist.com/

 

[Robi Diaz De Vivar]

Hello Pilgrims.

I just returned from the Camino a week ago, and what I feared would happen, happened.
I don´t like my country. The rat-race, the hurry... the amount of people who work themselves into a burn-out because it´s "necessary" somehow.

I struggled with this before the Camino, but now it´s a million times worse - the thought of living here long-term is unbearable.
So I am guessing I am leaving again. Work abroad for a while.

I am looking for people who can recognize this and also from people who actually decided: I am leaving my country.
Was it a slow realization, or a fast one, and what steps did you take to make it true?

Gwaihir.

Hi there. My wife and I did it. In 2004 we left Edinburgh in Scotland to move to a small village of 300 souls in Andalucia to try and survive running a Bed & Breakfast. It was different for us as we left not because we had a problem with living in Edinburgh, but because my wife had health problems and was long-term unemployed. It took us a couple of years to decide to jump. It has NOT been an easy 15 years but it was something that we have never regretted doing. Good luck.

 

[Felice]

I have been an expat for the best part of 20 years, not because I chose to be but because my husband's work took him there. We did 3 postings in Oman in the Middle East. First time we came back after nearly 5 years away, it took me the best part of a year to get used to the UK again as so much had changed, both my attitudes and that of my country. I remember that we lived near the Heathrow flight path and I would look up at those planes flying over and wish I could go somewhere else - anywhere but where I was. I hated where we lived, I hated the attitudes of so many of the people that I mixed with and I just wanted out. Coming back from Oman the third time in 2013 was easier as Oman no longer felt like my second home, as things there had changed in a way I did not like. So now I'm back home in the UK and that does not feel like home either.

Walking the camino in 2014 felt very much like my first time in Oman - lots of exciting new experiences, meaningful conversations and a whole new perspective on materialism. Coming back home again was as upsetting and unsettling as returning to the UK after that first posting to Oman.

You say that you were brought up in Spain, so you are an expat kid. My daughter is too - she spent her formative years in Oman. Like a tree that has been transplanted several times, her roots are in this country are fragile.

Best of luck whatever you decide to do. I'd take off too were it not for my responsibilities and ties here.

 

[Duane]

WARNING!. Your Camino may not end the day you walk into Santiago.

In mountain climbing, getting down off the mountain is often harder and more dangerous than the ascent to the summit. After Santiago you have to find your way home and reentry is not an easy matter for many of us. My wife says I’m no fun since I got home and all I think about is my next Camino. I have lived as an expatriate in various countries including Spain and reentry back into my own culture has always been the hardest part. My post-camino life cannot compete with the freedom and excitement of my mountain top experience on the Camino de Santiago. It is good to know many other pilgrims experience these same feelings when they return home. Suffering is the pilgrims’ lot and it doesn’t necessarily end in Santiago.

 

[WayWalker]

I love this dialog with people from all over the world. It feels like the Camino once again.. With surface conversation currently at all the holiday parties, I feel like a fish out of water. I love when I can have a heartfelt conversation with past Camino brethren about what I experienced and felt on 3 past caminos. Communion. That is what I love and miss.

 

[simply B]

@WayWalker -

"With surface conversation currently at all the holiday parties, I feel like a fish out of water."

I have learned from the turtle....

 

[WayWalker]

@simply B classic! Thanks for the laugh!

 

[VNwalking]

I think my Camino is incomplete in the sense that I do not yet know how to integrate all of the peacefulness into my life, and I think I need a temporary transition setting where I can both work and try to be mindful at the same time, in a social setting.

If that's what's coming up, trust that, and follow it, Gwaihir.

when you’re an expat, you are never 100% satisfied wherever you are

Wow, that's not my experience at all. There can be culture shock, but eventually the mind settles down.
I've live almost half my life as an expat in two places...not because of dissatisfaction, but because life took me to one place there, and now here.
What has happened to me (also because I travel a lot for my work) is that I have been blessed in finding a way to be present where I happen to be, whether it is home or not. And so more and more the world feels like home.

And...I don't engage in the endless striving and posturing and empty abitiousness that is so prevalent in the world. That has meant letting go of unnecessary things and living with much less. But in the end that's only a relief (Well...unless I'm stuck in the middle seat on a long flight between two big people...)

 

[Robo]

Here goes—when you’re an expat, you are never 100% satisfied wherever you are. When away, you begin to notice the good things about home and when home you pine for the good things about wherever your away place is.

Not my experience at all.
At age 15 I left the Island of Jersey (the Original one) to join the Military in the UK
Got used to it very quickly.
Lived in Germany 4 years. Loved it.
Have lived in Australia the last 24 years. I now call it home. (for now)
I live off and on, in Thailand. (Thai wife Pat) My 2nd home. Love it.

I have no attachment at all to my home/birth country.
Could I ever live there again? No way!
It's not the same place I left all those years ago.

In fact I'll probably end up living somewhere else soon

Home is where the heart is.........

 

[nidarosa]

The Camino IS my "comfort zone" now."

Thank you, @simply B - those are exactly the words I have been trying to find.

 

[Tia Valeria]

Makes me think of the old chorus:-
This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.... which speaks to me personally.

Living 'overseas' from any homeland, or walking the Camino, change us and gives us a different 'world view' from those who have not had our experiences.
We each have our own way of coping/dealing with it.
Part of life's pilgrimage post-Camino.......

 

[David Tallan]

I was never in a situation where I hated my home country but I was in a situation where I wanted to leave it and live elsewhere.

I finished high school a year early and took what they are now calling a "gap year" between high school and university. I worked for six months at 60 hours a week (two jobs, McDonald's and pumping gas at a gas station) and then traveled for six months in the middle east and Europe. I took to the "young people backpacking around Europe" lifestyle and culture like a duck to water. The culture shock happened when I returned home to go to university and it took me years to get over it. I just wanted to live a life abroad.

I eventually did go overseas, a couple of years after finishing my BA. I traveled around for a while and lived for a year and a half in Madrid. (That was when I did my first Camino.) I came back to Canada for the summer before heading into Africa. I wanted to update my shots and I figured it would be good to touch base with my family and wait until fall before heading to equatorial regions. While I was home for the summer I met this girl....

I did go to Africa in September but didn't stay that long. I wanted to get back to that girl. There was something to draw me to Canada as strong as the pull of other countries was. I went back to Canada, settled down, got a career, got married, had kids, and pretty much stopped travelling (except to visit family here in North America). That lasted about 25 years. Then the travel bug re-emerged. My home will remain in Canada, but there has been a lot more traveling in the past five years and there will be a lot more traveling in my future.

 

[DBride]

The Camino calls you, as it does all of us. Is suggest you think yourself lucky, and plan some time either as a volunteer in the pilgrim office or as a hospitalero, and once you have that under your belt you can go back to it again and again.

yes. For me is the same. I did my Camino during April this year and I'm thinking how to come back again as soon as it is possible.
Wish you all the best

 

[martin1ws]

I knew that I want to come back when I was still in Santiago de Compostela.
I will probably come back at the end of August 2020.

A little bit of camino blues - or much of it - is a normal emotion I think... if the camino is so great.
You are not alone...

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/post-camino-slump-anyone-else.49050/

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/dazed-or-confused-after-camino.48893/

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/coming-home-help-for-the-heartbroken.51431/

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/after-camino.49834/

A quote:
"...I suffered severely after my first camino. I later found out that it is a common phenomenon in professional athletes when they cease intense training. Be kind to yourself but KEEP WALKING. It is a shock to your body to stop.." ... but it is probably much more than only this physical shock.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/how-do-you-keep-the-camino-spirit-alive-in-your-heart.36243/

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/the-what-now-question-after-the-camino-a-resource.51391/

The difficult question is how (and where) to go on after the camino.

 

[Gwaihir]

I need a bit of time to catch up with the reactions, but this is the news: I´m leaving...

I got a temp job waiting for me abroad. It´s really exciting and intimidating, well the same exact feeling I had when I left for the Camino. But "the future is calling". Better listen to it.

 

[Gwaihir]

I just want to also add also that I do not "hate" where I live. I don´t believe I used that word in either of my posts. I mentioned dislike, but hey there is a lot of maneuvering space between hate and dislike.

Like a tree that has been transplanted several times, her roots are in this country are fragile.

This is probably a part of it. My parents were not particularly "Dutch". I think there are people who are really seriously "from somewhere" and then there are people who are not really "from somewhere" but always searching to find out where they are from.

We didn´t really have any traditions at home and although I went to school in both countries, I don´t particularly remember much of the history of either. The only way for me to remember it is to dive in textbooks again or look it up on YouTube because occasionally they will have interesting history videos.

In Spain - the region where I lived - people lived at a very different pace from here and as a teenager it drove me absolutely insane. I thought they were, uh "backwards" and I thought the western world was better because everything there is super fast and cooler and shinier and modern and more of such things...

I have been blessed in finding a way to be present where I happen to be, whether it is home or not.

I don´t know how you did it but it takes some strength When everybody is hurried, and also the striving and posturing that you mentioned, I find it very hard to not get suckered into that. When nobody is breathing, I find it very hard to breathe. But I hope I can learn it.

While I was home for the summer I met this girl....

"I had to go see about a girl..." (Good Will Hunting)

That is what I love and miss.

Cheers WayWalker I feel the same. Good luck during the holiday!

 

[VNwalking]

I got a temp job waiting for me abroad. It´s really exciting and intimidating, well the same exact feeling I had when I left for the Camino. But "the future is calling". Better listen to it.

Congratulations! Yup...just go!

When nobody is breathing, I find it very hard to breathe. But I hope I can learn it.

Sure you can. Because you already know how - but just have to find your way back there.
It isn't easy, though, especially at first because we're hard wired to conform to the 'tribe.' So when peer pressure is strong we get sucked in. So it does really help to find a niche where you can relax among people who are more like you and less like that.

 

[Dani7]

I wish you good fortune Gwaihir. Your Camino family will always be here to support you.

 

[Char Wolf]

My first 3 month long Camino in 2018 changed my life. The blessed experience of communion while walking in nature with other pilgrims and the many challenges of integration upon returning opened a floodgate of possibilities. (aka “I hit the wall) And what arose from the experience of travel’s joy and the return’s despair was a goal which is to “Learn 3 languages in 6 years” (2 each, starting with French, then Spanish, and ending with Italian). What I discovered through this goal (I am one year into French) is that I have created an opening to spontaneity and mischief, both at home and abroad, I so missed on the walks. I am a bit of a klutz at languages so it’s a bit of a comedy, actually! I have walked two sections of Chemin Le Puy so far this year, took the waters in Lourdes and will return in May to discover more regions in France (with only my backpack) Yet, more importantly the goal has revitalized the art of making new connections at home. One example of this is I met a native French language teacher who is such a wild soul (she is also an artist and historian) who I took out to see an ABBA tribute band for her 80th birthday. So the goal has enriched my daily experiences at home (as I am obsessively studying a language and culture and meeting new people) and abroad (as my appreciation and understanding grows so will the depth of my experience).

 

[Diane55]

I am looking for people who can recognize this and also from people who actually decided: I am leaving my country.
Was it a slow realization, or a fast one, and what steps did you take to make it true?

So, I am a retired woman who walked the Camino Francis in 2015 and has moved to Portugal. You can do it, it takes time and you need savings. Apply for a residency visa for Spain or Portugal from the states. If you ge tit come here, rent a place and get your visa for the first year. Then you can live the life....

 

[anthikes]

I have been a perpetual traveller since 2005 when I quit the London rat race. I started blogging online and making income from the internet, enabling me to based anywhere in the world. I started off earning a relatively modest $1000 a month, but by basing myself in Southeast Asia, I could still live well. There is a whole movement called Digital Nomads where you can find a lot of information.

15 years on and I have no regrets. The freedom is quite unbelievable, but there is no going back once you have tasted this lifestyle.

I have definitely had to make sacrifices along the way, not least having a true home base and slowly becoming distant from friends in the UK. There have been many ups and downs along the way too, just like a Camino in fact, but the overriding feeling of being free from society's expectations is what it's all about for me. I also dislike winter weather and cold climates, so I always follow the sun (I am currently in Malaysia).

I do plan to 'settle' at some point in the future. I have Portuguese residency in the bag (because of Brexit!) and plan to spend more time there.

My ultimate dream would be to open an albergue, probably somewhere between Lisbon and Porto. I need to do a lot of research into this before I make the move, but I think it's my destiny!

My advice echoes a lot of what people have said already. You have to follow your dreams and don't waste time being unhappy or unsettled. Having this level of freedom is a marriage made in heaven for a hiker like me - I could spend all year walking caminos!

Anyway, there are lots of resources for working online. I mainly design and run websites, but there are a lot of other jobs that can be done remotely. I suggest you look at Upwork.com and Fiverr.com to give you some ideas. Starting a blog and making money is not very easy these days (the making money bit!) but if you do go down this route then start something very niche and look for gaps in the market. Try and think of questions people ask online and answer them - that's what a good website is all about.

I am happy to help anyone who wants to know more about working online. It's my second biggest passion after hiking, so I am always keen to share any knowledge or ideas!

Good luck with your path.

 

[Lydia Taj]

Hello Pilgrims.

I just returned from the Camino a week ago, and what I feared would happen, happened.
I don´t like my country. The rat-race, the hurry... the amount of people who work themselves into a burn-out because it´s "necessary" somehow.

I struggled with this before the Camino, but now it´s a million times worse - the thought of living here long-term is unbearable.
So I am guessing I am leaving again. Work abroad for a while.

I am looking for people who can recognize this and also from people who actually decided: I am leaving my country.
Was it a slow realization, or a fast one, and what steps did you take to make it true?

Gwaihir.

I've lived as an expat for 9 of the last 11 years. I understand some of the difficulties. For me there was clarity that I wanted and needed to leave, but it took me about 3 years to work out a way to do that.
One immediate help I can offer - in the coping and grappling in-between-time - is Alexander John Shaia's book Returning from Camino. It gives perspective, and some concrete helps in navigating from Camino to whatever comes next for the individual.
I hope you find your signposts (shells posted) to lead you onward.
Lydia Taj

 

[ess1113]

I’ve been on four Caminos and the thought crosses my mind every year. I feel it’s is coming closer that I just don’t return.
Yes I know that life in Spain is still just life, big I am called to that are and that life

 

[Derrybiketours]

I really enjoyed reading this topic, it sounds like the OP has had the answer he's looking for, for now? I'm reminded of something that Osho writes that resonated with me reading all the other very insightful lessons. “Never belong to a crowd; Never belong to a nation; Never belong to a religion; Never belong to a race. Belong to the whole existence. Why limit yourself to small things? When the whole is available.”
I am currently living in NI disillusioned by the onset of Brexit, weighing up weather to walk away, sell up and buy an apartment in Madrid. Not to escape from the rat race but to give my spiritual being an opportnnity to flourish and fulfil my potential. Are we spiritual beings having a human experience! I ponder and having walked 4 Caminos in 13 months I've finally found the anecdote. It's taken me this amount of time to experience resistance on the way . I flowed through my first 3 walks and finally on the last CF in September I received a valuable lesson/s. Food poisoning, swollen ankle, assault, mugging, hospitalised, concussion . I will not be consciously returning to the trail again, i'll wait for the call and in mean time live the Camino that we carry with us, live more purposefully with less, avoid resistance and continue to find and stay in flow. Although I have joined a running club, setting up a walking club, currently learning Spanish and presently researching Madrid Camino as a curiosity

 

[Mark Di Marzio]

I really enjoyed reading this topic, it sounds like the OP has had the answer he's looking for, for now? I'm reminded of something that Osho writes that resonated with me reading all the other very insightful lessons. “Never belong to a crowd; Never belong to a nation; Never belong to a religion; Never belong to a race. Belong to the whole existence. Why limit yourself to small things? When the whole is available.”
I am currently living in NI disillusioned by the onset of Brexit, weighing up weather to walk away, sell up and buy an apartment in Madrid. Not to escape from the rat race but to give my spiritual being an opportnnity to flourish and fulfil my potential. Are we spiritual beings having a human experience! I ponder and having walked 4 Caminos in 13 months I've finally found the anecdote. It's taken me this amount of time to experience resistance on the way . I flowed through my first 3 walks and finally on the last CF in September I received a valuable lesson/s. Food poisoning, swollen ankle, assault, mugging, hospitalised, concussion . I will not be consciously returning to the trail again, i'll wait for the call and in mean time live the Camino that we carry with us, live more purposefully with less, avoid resistance and continue to find and stay in flow. Although I have joined a running club, setting up a walking club, currently learning Spanish and presently researching Madrid Camino as a curiosity

Good onya mate ! The more pilgrims stories’ I hear -while on the Camino (ps I have walked the Camino 4 times so far and been a hospitelero and god willing I will walk again on the Camino ) the more I realise how the call of the Camino attracts so many people at the cutting edge of a modern life - in a state of transformation and healing - no longer fitting into the old world - a world that no longer resonates . We are looking and creating a new world in our pilgrimages , our life experiences and our seeking . We seem to all have very interesting and unique stories and seeking a new way to live - we are now all global citizens in a changing , complex world where we are trying to ‘simplify ‘ and find a place we can truly be at home -“somewhere , somehow we’ll find a new way of living “ . Keep on keepin’ on fellow pilgrim -keep putting one foot in front of the other . We are all in this together . Cheers mate . Buen Camino

 

[Derrybiketours]

We are looking and creating a new world in our pilgrimaged and our seeking

Ultreia my learned friend, I appreciate the considered response and read your pov wirh interest. The fires experienced in your homeland will test your resolve, its an awakening for all of us. I hope your safe and continue to find clariry

 

[Nick B]

When we're sitting in the nursing home known as God's waiting room will we be reflecting positively on how we worked for 45 years, paid our taxes to incompetent politicians and the Corporate leeches, owned two cars, the house and holiday home on the coast with the manicured lawns, smeg appliances and lights that turn on with a command or a clap ?

All ultimately to be left to someone else once we pass on.

Or will we be reflecting positively on our travels, the people we met, the history and culture of foreign places, the views, the laughter, the experiences and the truly moving moments ?

The best things in life are experiences , not things. On a Camino in 2018 I roomed with a South African guy who had thrown his job in and was travelling the Camino with no place to head home to, over a few beers he made the comment 'how much is enough ?'' Never a truer statement made.

As someone else said in reality we need very little to survive but get scammed into the consumerism and materialism of the modern world.

“I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news”
― John Muir

 

[Mark Di Marzio]

So true ! It takes a very long time to ‘wake up’ from a dream state of consumption, consumerism and living without real thinking of the purpose of life and many never do wake up until it’s too late . I reckon that the Camino is a true ‘wake up call ‘ for so many of us -to realise what is real and what is not . Wipes the dust out of our eyes . We can see more much more clearly afterwards .

 

[anthikes]

I was once awfully consumed by chasing money, expensive goods, status symbols, but you kind of go that way when you are working in the financial district of London.

I am so glad I saw the light and realised how little you need to live on. I have been in Malaysia three months and been spending less than EUR 20 a day, probably nearer 15 actually.

Good to see there are many other like minded souls in this group!

 

[Dromengro]

The Camino does not end in SdC it is only the turning point. How you do the second part is up to you.

 

[Mark Di Marzio]

The Camino does not end in SdC it is only the turning point. How you do the second part is up to you.

Yes, I agree .. after the Camino de Santiago finished we are back into the real Camino -The Camino of life -

 

[thetravlingal]

Hello Pilgrims.

I just returned from the Camino a week ago, and what I feared would happen, happened.
I don´t like my country. The rat-race, the hurry... the amount of people who work themselves into a burn-out because it´s "necessary" somehow.

I struggled with this before the Camino, but now it´s a million times worse - the thought of living here long-term is unbearable.
So I am guessing I am leaving again. Work abroad for a while.

I am looking for people who can recognize this and also from people who actually decided: I am leaving my country.
Was it a slow realization, or a fast one, and what steps did you take to make it true?

Gwaihir.

Hello Gwaihir!

What you are feeling is very common for those of us who have experienced a spiritual awakening. There is a book by Jack Kornfield which was recommended to me that you may find useful.

“After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path”

 

[Rj7797]

As many others here have stated in various different ways, what you seek can only be found within. That is not say it is easy to find though . I am a fellow searcher of the inner depths. A journey inside a journey.

 

[Wild Irish]

A lot of the stories here resonate with me and I have yet to walk a camino (this JulyAug will be my first). I love Ireland, my home country, but after the recession, with sky rocketing rents and a high cost of living in the city where I lived, I had to get out. I'd always wanted to move to Spain after doing an Erasmus year there years ago and first reading about the Camino years before that....so when quality of life became almost unbearable it was time to do something about it! First step was a versatile job. I retrained as an Eng language teacher a few years ago and after gaining experience at home for 2and a half years and then living in a hostel (cheaper than renting) for the best part of a year and finally getting debts paid off, it was time. I think many wondered if I'd actually DO it, I even wondered if I would at times as it felt pain stakingly slow. Also when you're doing something like this it can be a lonely process, (at least it was for me) you have to dig deep, trust your own judgement and will yourself on.

Once the decision was made to finally make the move this year it was such a relief, I really had nothing to lose. I managed to get a job in a town in Andalucía and I moved here 3months ago! Of course moving abroad has it's own challenges and as the saying goes, 'wherever you go, there you are'....there were other personal reasons I wanted to leave too which I've had to deal with no matter where I am....but I feel alive as opposed to merely existing! I can afford to live normally here, the pace of life is relaxed, I don't miss city living one bit and I'm learning a new language. My stress levels are greatly reduced and I feel my mental health is improving, the added bonus of sunny weather is also huge for me! There are ups and downs of course but so far, so good....I'm loving town life , people are friendly and there's a community atmosphere. There's a great train service to two major cities too so I'm not completely in the sticks!

And, the added bonus of various caminos being just a train ride away is still hard to believe! I'm now saving for my first one this summer, something that would have been impossible at home. Who knows if I'll stay here long term, if conditions improved at home in the Eng lang teaching industry and cost of living/ work/ life balance etc maybe I'd return, as I said I love Ireland and miss everyone, but I have to give it a go!

@Derrybiketours if you decide to move to Madrid best of luck to you! And to the OP, I hope you find insight and happiness in your new adventures!

If you're thinking about making a move, really think it through, think of the worst case scenarios...it's not all fab, plan b's are imp if it all goes awry.....but if you're ok with that and you have the freedom to do so, then it just might be worth a shot!

 

[Derrybiketours]

I managed to get a job in a town in Andalucía and I moved here 3months ago!

Congratulations for making the transition and living your best life. The love you have for your homeland will always be and you'll appreciate it even more when your ready to return and the fallout of Brexit will have settled. Your in right place, at right time doing the right thing and the Camino will help you adjust to the feeling of missing home, it will become your home from home and I'm grateful to you for your positive intention and like the Camino has shown me, trust and believe in all your decisions, both good and bad, leave behind expectations, go forward with purpose and hope and give out love

 

[Wild Irish]

Congratulations for making the transition and living your best life. The love you have for your homeland will always be and you'll appreciate it even more when your ready to return and the fallout of Brexit will have settled. Your in right place, at right time doing the right thing and the Camino will help you adjust to the feeling of missing home, it will become your home from home and I'm grateful to you for your positive intention and like the Camino has shown me, trust and believe in all your decisions, both good and bad, leave behind expectations, go forward with purpose and hope and give out love

Thank you so much for taking the time to write @Derrybiketours and I really appreciate the words of encouragement and support, they come at a good time! I wish you the same and hope everything goes well for you whether you stay at home or move abroad...It's not easy trying to figure these things out, for me it was a gut feeling but it took a long time to make it possible. I wish you all the best with everything, for this year and beyond, and thanks again!

 

[Gwaihir]

I ended up going to Ireland for a while, not very long though, because of Corona ;-)

The experience was very valuable, I was confronted with myself, I learned about frugality and how maybe comfort sometimes is good, and I also learned about being part of someone´s family, me being a complete stranger.

Then Covid, the world after that was weird, the rat-race suddenly ended and everybody suddenly stopped to think about their lives, so that was a good time for me. I had tons and tons of time to think about my values and what I really wanted to do, and I figured it out.

This piece of the world I am living in has recovered from the first shock and we have gone back to the rat race - but perhaps this time it´s temporary. The old world is ending, you said it @Mark Di Marzio, we are creating a new one, step by step...

Last time there were some folks on the forum who argued that fleeing from anywhere does not help, and they were right in the sense that you have to find peace within - but my trouble is not so much with a physical place as it is with the nihilism of the city.

No belief in God, which would be fine by itself, however no belief in magic either - which we very well know exists on the Camino - the disregarding of myths as "fairy-tales", the general apathy in which the city finds itself, are contagious (!)

After living in this particular ambience for too long I always find myself becoming its exact mirror. The reason I left for the Camino last time was to break free from my own mental prisons, and I have. The real challenge is to not become entangled in that mental prison in the first place.

I´m dealing with that at the moment - and I cannot run from the city forever because there is no doubt that I will encounter nihilism in other places too. This time I know that if the nihilism gets the best of me, I can always pack a bag and just... leave.

 

[Lexicos]

Firstly:
There's nothing wrong with wanting to live in another country. That's perfectly understandable. Why not?

Secondly:
It doesn't have to be a do-or-die decision, or a desperate 'escape.' You're young, you want to explore the world, you want to try something else somewhere else. So? What's the big deal?

Thirdly:
It might work, it might not; you may like it and you may not. There's only one way to find out.

Fourthly:
Have two homes. What's wrong with that? My advice, don't burn your bridges as you leave. You'll pay dearly for it if you do, later on.

Finally:
Life is to be lived. Go where your heart takes you, that's fine, but don't be silly about it, don't be childish, don't fall for all those cliches about the rat race and so forth. That's sheer rubbish. Plan and Plan. Save so you can last 4-6 months in case you don't find work. Plan carefully, include your friends and family and maintain your ties, people care about you. And you just don't know what tomorrow will bring.

Lastly:
Do it, but do it with with maturity, with reason and don't frame it as an escape or a response to rotten things at home. Thousands of people move and live in places away from home. If you can and you want to you'd be silly not to. Perfectly normal. Perfectly natural. We all want to see the world and experience it. Why not?

PS:
By the way, there's no dignity in sleeping rough and begging for a meal. That's not the answer. Don't go there. If you're struggling with the norm now, you'll struggle ten times more if you let go your dignity. No need for that. Do it if you must but do it properly.