Jamie Y. Mo
A lifelong learner and wanderer
- Time of past OR future Camino
- CF (May-July/2017) PC (May-July/2018) and more...
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You echo the thoughts and feelingsof so many returned pilgrims . I personally believe YOU NEVER forget or replicate the feelings you had on the Camino,and the only way to recover is to begin thinking of your next Camino however distant.You are officiallysuffering with the well known (at least to pilgrims ) disease Caminoitis.Hello all,
I walked 7 weeks France Camino in May and June, 2017.
I came home in July and now is August.
I don't know what I have been doing since I came back.
I really miss the time I walked every day through the mountains, forests, endless wheat fields, vineyards, numerous villages, highways..
Every thing seems unreal now like a dream. I was both happy and in pain on Camino, just like living a life in real world but somehow I was happier and less confused than real life.
Now I am back in a city I live now. I can't really stand the noise and crowd.
I don't really feel like doing anything. I feel like I have lived fully enough on Camino and I am thrown back in a place where I don't feel a life.
I have never had this kind of feeling after travel before.
Is this normal? or am I just too sensitive?
Thanks for your reply.You echo the thoughts and feelingsof so many returned pilgrims . I personally believe YOU NEVER forget or replicate the feelings you had on the Camino,and the only way to recover is to begin thinking of your next Camino however distant.You are officiallysuffering with the well known (at least to pilgrims ) disease Caminoitis.
Thank you for your kind reply.Dear Jamie,
Yes, I felt exactly the same returning from the Camino, and yes, you are perfectly normal. The best thing to do, is trying to adjust your everyday life to be like the Camino life, you miss so much. Try to make your life more simple, enjoy the nature as much as you can and be kind to strangers. What called you to the Camino is still calling you. And remember, you can always walk another Camino Buen Camino! Anna
As others have said, it's addictive, which explains why so many of us keep walking, it's not just the walk it's the time spent away from all the normal commitments in life, throw away cellphone and head off somewhere, anywhere. Eventualy we gave up city life and brought a nut farm, where the rythmn and flow of nature dominate our lives, not so much just one foot after another, but every day I trudge off down our own Camino to move the pigs, check on the orchard and then do what ever the season requires.It is hard to explain what happened on the Camino to others because life itself there was simple. No dramatic events. I was quiet and smiley most of the time but inside my head I was getting clearer about the world.
The city I live in now is like a Whoa.. My eyes and ears don't really seem to take these new flows.
Camino blues. Those of us who are serial repeaters have been there, done that.
You will soon start planning your second Camino. But don't expect it to be like the first. They never are the same.
Good for you. I wish you all the best.For some, the camino bug is for life. Its symptoms: deep yearning for solitude, contemplation, camaraderie, simplicity, meaning, overflowing grace, feeling free yet connected... I am planning for my 3rd camino in srping 2018
Thanks for your reply. Yeah.It amazes me that on the Camino there is time to walk 25km (more or less) every day, stop for leisurely meals, meet new friend, visit with old friends (from yesterday,) wash laundry by hand, visit churches and museums and think nothing of walking across town for some grocery shopping and maybe more. Every day is full of life. At home we (I) have every convenience to help get more done in a shorter amount of time to enhance life and spend (theoretically) more time with family and friends. In practice it seems to work just the opposite. The slower pace of life while on the Camino is more meaningful and filled with life and definitely a better use of my time. It also is more conducive to prayer, contemplation, and thinking (for me.)
Buen Camino.
We, who have had the opportunity to walk the Camino are 'blessed' and very lucky to have had the opportunity. The fact is that for most of us, it is a temporary welcome suspension of our daily lives.Hello all,
I walked 7 weeks France Camino in May and June, 2017.
I came home in July and now is August.
I don't know what I have been doing since I came back.
I really miss the time I walked every day through the mountains, forests, endless wheat fields, vineyards, numerous villages, highways..
Every thing seems unreal now like a dream. I was both happy and in pain on Camino, just like living a life in real world but somehow I was happier and less confused than real life.
Now I am back in a city I live now. I can't really stand the noise and crowd.
I don't really feel like doing anything. I feel like I have lived fully enough on Camino and I am thrown back in a place where I don't feel a life.
I have never had this kind of feeling after travel before.
Is this normal? or am I just too sensitive?
Very well said. Thanks.We, who have had the opportunity to walk the Camino are 'blessed' and very lucky to have had the opportunity. The fact is that for most of us, it is a temporary welcome suspension of our daily lives.
Returning to the daily grind is naturally difficult and often problematic.
That is life.
One has choices as to how we live if we have the resources to have walked a Camino.
Upon returning, the true benefit of the Camino experience is to apply the positives to our lives and use the negatives as lessons and pointers to improve our regular existence and that of others around us.
No-one could or should eat the 'candy of life' on a full time basis. It would either become meaningless or harm us in some way.
affect is a verbHi Jamie,
.....somewhere in EXTRA LARGE print should be a warning about the affects or effects (I can never sort those 2 out) of the Camino on us. I find this forum an excellent help. I'm off to do my 2nd in 4 weeks time having done my 1st this time last year. I have read that some even do a Camino twice a year ( those ones are probably in need of serious professional help).
All your feelings and thoughts are very natural and are to be expected and are shared by many of us.
Great thoughts,
Mark
affect is a verb
effect is a noun
Hello all,
I walked 7 weeks France Camino in May and June, 2017.
I came home in July and now is August.
I don't know what I have been doing since I came back.
I really miss the time I walked every day through the mountains, forests, endless wheat fields, vineyards, numerous villages, highways..
Every thing seems unreal now like a dream. I was both happy and in pain on Camino, just like living a life in real world but somehow I was happier and less confused than real life.
Now I am back in a city I live now. I can't really stand the noise and crowd.
I don't really feel like doing anything. I feel like I have lived fully enough on Camino and I am thrown back in a place where I don't feel a life.
I have never had this kind of feeling after travel before.
Is this normal? or am I just too sensitive?
As others have expressed, your post camino experience is not unusual. Perhaps the fact that you have responded to it differently than to your Grand Canyon trip and others is the difference between a long distance walk, a thru-hike, and a pilgrimage. For some, pilgrimage is life changing, and not always instantaneously, but more often, slowly and subtly. That changing takes time, and what is happening is an unknown process with an unknown outcome. Perhaps you are now in that amorphous zone. Some pilgrims return to the camino because they are still evolving and, if they can't return as often as they need or like, they immerse themselves in following forums like this one. This is important because it keeps them connected to the camino and to other pilgrims. You might have discovered that trying to explain your camino to family and friends is not as satisfying as you'd like. Only another camino pilgrim can truly understand. So keep to the forums, and, if there is a pilgrims group or other pilgrims near where you live, get connected. Buen camino every day.Hello all,
I walked 7 weeks France Camino in May and June, 2017.
I came home in July and now is August.
I don't know what I have been doing since I came back.
I really miss the time I walked every day through the mountains, forests, endless wheat fields, vineyards, numerous villages, highways..
Every thing seems unreal now like a dream. I was both happy and in pain on Camino, just like living a life in real world but somehow I was happier and less confused than real life.
Now I am back in a city I live now. I can't really stand the noise and crowd.
I don't really feel like doing anything. I feel like I have lived fully enough on Camino and I am thrown back in a place where I don't feel a life.
I have never had this kind of feeling after travel before.
Is this normal? or am I just too sensitive?
Wow, a serious need for another Camino given you live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world!Hello all,
I walked 7 weeks France Camino in May and June, 2017.
I came home in July and now is August.
I don't know what I have been doing since I came back.
I really miss the time I walked every day through the mountains, forests, endless wheat fields, vineyards, numerous villages, highways..
Every thing seems unreal now like a dream. I was both happy and in pain on Camino, just like living a life in real world but somehow I was happier and less confused than real life.
Now I am back in a city I live now. I can't really stand the noise and crowd.
I don't really feel like doing anything. I feel like I have lived fully enough on Camino and I am thrown back in a place where I don't feel a life.
I have never had this kind of feeling after travel before.
Is this normal? or am I just too sensitive?
Except when you effect a change.effect is a noun
VERY true! I was trying to keep it 'simplish'!Except when you effect a change.
I don't think I have ever just plain repeated any of my posts on here but...I would like to thank all of you who have kindly written replies to my trivial matter.
It's been now over a month since I came back from Camino. I have been trying to figure out how to respond to my feelings.
I am still struggling to figure out what I should do about how I feel because my feelings are strong and consistent.
I am not worried nor anxious but I feel that these feelings should not be underestimated. 7 weeks was a long but meaningful time and I was almost on my own- no particular group to walk with. I had no cell phone either because I wanted to be away from whatever exists out there. I even think 'do I miss life on Camino or the way I thought and behaved on Camino?'
I am still struggling to figure out what I should do about how I feel because my feelings are strong and consistent.
I am not worried nor anxious but I feel that these feelings should not be underestimated. 7 weeks was a long but meaningful time and I was almost on my own-
Be gentle with yourself Jamie, 7 weeks on your own on the road means you probably saw a side of yourself, and others you, would never have given much thought to before. As suggested above, you can incorporate some of what you experienced into your everyday life, this helps, and the forum is a useful place to sound out ideas to do this.I am still struggling to figure out what I should do about how I feel because my feelings are strong and consistent.
Be gentle with yourself Jamie, 7 weeks on your own on the road means you probably saw a side of yourself, and others you, would never have given much thought to before. As suggested above, you can incorporate some of what you experienced into your everyday life, this helps, and the forum is a useful place to sound out ideas to do this.
After Scott died earlier this year I returned to the forum to check out changes in the vdp as Scott wanted me to rewalk our favourite route. I thought I was looking for practical updates in albergues closures and route changes. What I found was the opinionated comaradery of old pilgrims. It's not always mindful stuff, gramma nit pickers, experts in blister care, debates over origins of the way abound. But it's good to be back with a group that know the pleasure of a well earned cold beer at the end of a long day on the road.
Like you I struggle with the changes in my life, but a walk in the fresh air and a moment of reflection helps calm the noise in my head. And when I am ready for it, I'll tackle the Camino again.
Perhaps, if you are able, you might return to explore what this might mean to you. Strong feelings are worth paying attention to. I met a very nice young lady named Ashley, who returned to start an albergue in Samos (casa licerio). She spends 6 months a year there and goes back to the US in the winter. I think you might enjoy talking with her.I would like to thank all of you who have kindly written replies to my trivial matter.
It's been now over a month since I came back from Camino. I have been trying to figure out how to respond to my feelings.
I am still struggling to figure out what I should do about how I feel because my feelings are strong and consistent.
I am not worried nor anxious but I feel that these feelings should not be underestimated. 7 weeks was a long but meaningful time and I was almost on my own- no particular group to walk with. I had no cell phone either because I wanted to be away from whatever exists out there. I even think 'do I miss life on Camino or the way I thought and behaved on Camino?'
You are so correct, I went back and did a second camino and the experience was completely different, and actually not nearly as enjoyable as my first. I left quite heartbroken.Camino blues. Those of us who are serial repeaters have been there, done that.
You will soon start planning your second Camino. But don't expect it to be like the first. They never are the same.
Hehe - its not quite that straight forward (although in common usage affect is a verb) - in the more specialised vocabulary commonly used by mental health professionals (probably mainly psychiatrists and psychologists) affect is also a noun, referring to ones experience and/or expression of emotion - more on a moment to moment basis (as compared to mood, which is more of a longer lasting emotional state).... as such the noun affect is often frequently relevant to discussion the effects of the caminoaffect is a verb
effect is a noun
Hi !Hello all,
I walked 7 weeks France Camino in May and June, 2017.
I came home in July and now is August.
I don't know what I have been doing since I came back.
I really miss the time I walked every day through the mountains, forests, endless wheat fields, vineyards, numerous villages, highways..
Every thing seems unreal now like a dream. I was both happy and in pain on Camino, just like living a life in real world but somehow I was happier and less confused than real life.
Now I am back in a city I live now. I can't really stand the noise and crowd.
I don't really feel like doing anything. I feel like I have lived fully enough on Camino and I am thrown back in a place where I don't feel a life.
I have never had this kind of feeling after travel before.
Is this normal? or am I just too sensitive?
It takes time to walk the Camino. It takes time to process the Camino. Take your time.Hello all,
I walked 7 weeks France Camino in May and June, 2017.
I came home in July and now is August.
I don't know what I have been doing since I came back.
I really miss the time I walked every day through the mountains, forests, endless wheat fields, vineyards, numerous villages, highways..
Every thing seems unreal now like a dream. I was both happy and in pain on Camino, just like living a life in real world but somehow I was happier and less confused than real life.
Now I am back in a city I live now. I can't really stand the noise and crowd.
I don't really feel like doing anything. I feel like I have lived fully enough on Camino and I am thrown back in a place where I don't feel a life.
I have never had this kind of feeling after travel before.
Is this normal? or am I just too sensitive?
Hello all,
I walked 7 weeks France Camino in May and June, 2017.
I came home in July and now is August.
I don't know what I have been doing since I came back.
I really miss the time I walked every day through the mountains, forests, endless wheat fields, vineyards, numerous villages, highways..
Every thing seems unreal now like a dream. I was both happy and in pain on Camino, just like living a life in real world but somehow I was happier and less confused than real life.
Now I am back in a city I live now. I can't really stand the noise and crowd.
I don't really feel like doing anything. I feel like I have lived fully enough on Camino and I am thrown back in a place where I don't feel a life.
I have never had this kind of feeling after travel before.
Is this normal? or am I just too sensitive?
Hello , I've found the forum so helpful and encouraging, it's time to get involved!@AussieJane welcome to the forum.
Hi Megan,Jamie! I believe we stayed in the same albergue in Atapuerca and then ran into each other again on a bridge on our way out of Burgos.
I've found coming off of the Camino to be more difficult than actually walking the Camino. I will probably walk again either next May after graduation or in August when my lease is up, I can't seem to find the same groove in life when I'm not on the Camino. It's frustrating to know what life can be like (life on the Camino) and to come back home and not be able to find or create that same feeling, it sounds like you're in that same boat.
I wish you the very best as you try to navigate your next steps.
*Hugs* - Megan
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