Regret

[almostfamous73]

Has anyone decided to do only part of the camino becuase of obligations, fear, or because back home (job, debt), but after a few days of walking, thinking, praying, regret not walking the entire camino and if so what did you all do? (go home and quit and simply return, plan a future camino to walk the entire thing, or head home and return to obligations with regret?

Tommy

 

[robertt]

Tommy, if I'm on the Camino and have to go back home or stop for some reason, it's not a big deal. Nobody really cares. Even Saint James doesn't care. If I profit by the time I have there, I'll be more inclined to return - and profit even more!

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Has anyone decided to do only part of the camino becuase of obligations, fear, or because back home (job, debt), but after a few days of walking, thinking, praying, regret not walking the entire camino and if so what did you all do? (go home and quit and simply return, plan a future camino to walk the entire thing, or head home and return to obligations with regret?

Tommy

Hola - many, many pilgrims walk their camino in sections using whatever holidays and time off they have each year until they reach Santiago. This is particularly true of Spanish pilgrims and those from other nearby European countries because of the ease of access.

John

 

[David]

Yes, just so - don't feel guilty John, there are enough worries in the world without adding another. Be glad for what you can do or have done and if life and circumstances allow, then return.

All is well. :wink:

 

[MichaelB10398]

Tis an easy, but detrimental, thing to live one's life in regret. When there is no choice, do not regret, but count the blessings of being on Camino first and go no further. Stay in a state of gratitude and squeeze every bit of joy out of every moment while on Camino.

Upon your return home, begin to plan anew for your next Camino. You can pick up where you left off or start at a new place. Follow your heart; the Camino always will provide the answer.

Have a great time on Camino. It begins when you choose to go and it never ends. Pilgrimage is a process not a destination; learn to take it with you every day.

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

Has anyone decided to do only part of the camino becuase of obligations, fear, or because back home (job, debt), but after a few days of walking, thinking, praying, regret not walking the entire camino and if so what did you all do? (go home and quit and simply return, plan a future camino to walk the entire thing, or head home and return to obligations with regret? Tommy

Hi Tommy!
This happened to me five weeks ago. Severe blisters and day after day of heavy rain meant I just had to go home. Of course I regretted it! For a couple of weeks I was quite depressed about the whole affair. Now I'm wondering about the Camino Ingles maybe in 2014. Life is a pilgrimage, full of good things, with just maybe a few bad things. There should be no time for regrets, but, being human, regrets come briefly from time to time. Take heart! Walk your camino cheerfully, even if it's only a few steps at a time!
Ultreya!
Stephen.

 

[Kiwi-family]

We wanted to do the whole thing, but hubby could not get enough time off work for us to do it comfortably....so we elected to do just a part (Leon to Santiago) and have a blast in Paris, London and canalboating up to Oxford as well (while we're up from the Antipodes)....and we're seriously hoping we love the walking bit and return to do the whole thing another time....and walk the Great Wall of China (we've done just a teeny portion of that too)....and Rome to Jerusalem (or maybe we'd start in Amsterdam because we want to go back there).....and Cairo to Capetown (or do we go by bike?)........ at first I was disappointed at not doing it all, but decided it was better to do such a small part that it would be "worth" returning for the whole thing! Now there are no regrets, just anticipation.

 

[Gilespenn]

Hi everyone,
John is correct. When my daughter heard I was going to do a Camino she got me in touch with two young Americans who live and work in Spain. They've been very helpful in my preparations. But the point is this couple has walked the Camino Frances for the past 10 years. Each year they take four days off from their busy lives and do a short pilgrimage. The pilgrim experience has become a big part of their lives.
Buen Camino,
Giles

 

[Pieces]

I don't really believe in regrets

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezeq4Lhonv0[/youtube]

 

[almostfamous73]

Thank you all for your thoughts... I decided to resign my position, and feel I need to walk the entire pathway and learn about myself and pathway before I can go any further helping people in medicine and in my life. I leave at the end of August and set no timetable to reach the ocean (my goal)... Though reality will hit me in return with debt and bills, I do not want to feel an ounce of regret and I choose a life that forces me to work long hours and limited time off, however, I now choose to live life and find my harmony with each step........ Tommy

 

[Kiwi-family]

Tommy, When you pass us, be sure to stop and say NO REGRETS!

 

[tyrrek]

I don't really believe in regrets

Ha ha! I like it Pieces. That's one for your iPod then? Buen Camino!

 

[jennysa]

Thank you all for your thoughts... I decided to resign my position, and feel I need to walk the entire pathway and learn about myself and pathway before I can go any further helping people in medicine and in my life. I leave at the end of August and set no timetable to reach the ocean (my goal)... Though reality will hit me in return with debt and bills, I do not want to feel an ounce of regret and I choose a life that forces me to work long hours and limited time off, however, I now choose to live life and find my harmony with each step........ Tommy

Congratulations on your momentous decision and good luck! Let us know how you manage along the way.

 

[Abbeydore]

There is absolutely nothing to regret.......

 

[JillHives]

Thank you all for your thoughts... I decided to resign my position, and feel I need to walk the entire pathway and learn about myself and pathway before I can go any further helping people in medicine and in my life. I leave at the end of August and set no timetable to reach the ocean (my goal)... Though reality will hit me in return with debt and bills, I do not want to feel an ounce of regret and I choose a life that forces me to work long hours and limited time off, however, I now choose to live life and find my harmony with each step........ Tommy

I'm arriving in SJPP on August 31st and starting out Sept.1st... perhaps our paths will cross. Good luck with your journey and feeling at peace with your decision.

Buen Camino.
JH

 

[David]

It does sort of sound as if you have already had enough of the life you have now - if so the mental space and freedom you will find on the Camino (including all the aches and pains and tribulations) could be exactly what you need.

Look - this is my personal opinion, only that, others may disagree and only you can decide what to do - so ...
If your life responsibility is currently for you alone, you do not have anyone else who really depends on you, then why not just give up the life you are so unhappy with? Just put it down like a heavy suitcase and walk away. Sometimes the only freedom we have, really have, is to just walk away and one of the things the Camino can do, if you do it in a no looking back in the NOW sort of way, is to reintroduce you to yourself, the real, joyful, laughing, loving, caring, helpful, light walking person we all really are.

When you were a child or a pupil at school you most likely didn't look forward to a future in a job you dislike, with debts and worries ... you get sort of slowly sucked into it, as if you were sitting down one day and unknown people very quietly built a life around you without you noticing.

For me it is always walk away - this is life, life! and the only true currency in this world is that life ticking away. If a car costs £25,000 and one earns £25,000 in a year and one buys that car, effectively one has sold one whole year of one's life to own that car - this is madness.

So - go on your Camino and when you return home, if you return home - well, why not change direction - go to a new town where the new you can live and perhaps work with homeless people, or the lonely, the elderly, the disabled, the unloved - forget about the money, the big salary, go for life, go for Love.
I'm not certain, but I think it was Gautama Buddha who said
"Strive for personal happiness
Result - misery
Strive for happiness for others
Result - happiness"

Buen Camino :wink:

 

[Priscillian]

Hey "Almost"...! The word regret implies Guilt. There is no need or room for guilt on the Camino because we all do what we can. If we can't or don't want to do it (for whatever reason and these are intensely personal and all justified at the time) this time, hey...there will be the next. Or not. You will find somewhere else to do "it". Whatever that might mean. Anyway, if the place for "it" is the Camino, pues...;no te preoccupes (don't worry yourself): it has been here for a while...
http://www.pilgrimagetoheresy.blogspot.com

 

[David]

Hey "Almost"...! The word regret implies Guilt. There is no need or room for guilt on the Camino because we all do what we can. If we can't or don't want to do it (for whatever reason and these are intensely personal and all justified at the time) this time, hey...there will be the next. Or not. You will find somewhere else to do "it". Whatever that might mean. Anyway, if the place for "it" is the Camino, pues...;no te preoccupes (don't worry yourself): it has been here for a while...
http://www.pilgrimagetoheresy.blogspot.com

Spot on Priscillian, Spot on!

 

[JillHives]

Look - this is my personal opinion, only that, others may disagree and only you can decide what to do - so ...
If your life responsibility is currently for you alone, you do not have anyone else who really depends on you, then why not just give up the life you are so unhappy with? Just put it down like a heavy suitcase and walk away. Sometimes the only freedom we have, really have, is to just walk away and one of the things the Camino can do, if you do it in a no looking back in the NOW sort of way, is to reintroduce you to yourself, the real, joyful, laughing, loving, caring, helpful, light walking person we all really are.


For me it is always walk away - this is life, life! and the only true currency in this world is that life ticking away. If a car costs £25,000 and one earns £25,000 in a year and one buys that car, effectively one has sold one whole year of one's life to own that car - this is madness.

I completely agree with you and from one who has put a heavy suitcase down, it felt incredible.

 

[peregrina nicole]

I wish you the best of luck with your Camino! It must have been a BIG decision to resign your job to walk the Camino. I think that you get out of the Camino what you put into it, so I'm sure you will find it a rewarding and life changing experience.

For people out there following this strand, stopping part way and continuing later is not a problem at all for people at the pilgrim office. The KEY thing is to keep your credencial. These don't have an expiry date. As Johnnie says, it is quite common for Spanish people to take years to finish a Camino.

Buen Camino

 

[amourier]

Thank you all for your thoughts... I decided to resign my position, and feel I need to walk the entire pathway and learn about myself and pathway before I can go any further helping people in medicine and in my life. I leave at the end of August and set no timetable to reach the ocean (my goal)... Though reality will hit me in return with debt and bills, I do not want to feel an ounce of regret and I choose a life that forces me to work long hours and limited time off, however, I now choose to live life and find my harmony with each step........ Tommy

I will be starting my Camino from SJPdP on Sept 4th. Like you I have no timetable to reach the ocean (also my goal). I surely hope we see each other some where along the way. You'll be able to recognize me - I'm the one with the thick New York accent! :roll:
Ultreya,
Arlene