anyone sneakily enjoy that little bit of hardship / suffering ?

[Deise]

i mean the usual small things like blisters , Snoring , pilgrims rummaging in plastic sacks for hours before leaving albergue .
It is amazing how quickly these are forgotten when looking back.
Buen camino

 

[Tincatinker]

When I accidentally left my hair-shirt on the washing line at the Municipal Albergue in Logrono I was very relieved to find a genuine Bri-nylon (tm) shirt in one of the China stores. The sweaty discomfort made the whole trip worthwhile.

 

[Kanga]

Yes. Now I'm home I get great satisfaction out of peeling the thick layers of dead skin off the spots that once were blisters. What that says about me I hate to think.

 

[Icacos]

Don't know if this counts but, shortly after I returned from my Camino, I accompanied my daughter on a hike "up the Valley" as it is called here. It was a bit of a drive to get there, but she wanted to show me a particular view. At the trail head was a sign indicating that the distance, return, was 5 k. I burst out laughing.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Discomfort is fine with me, but I won't "do misery." If it ever got that bad, I would do something else!

 

[nackyann]

Oddly, yes. It took me about two weeks, but then my mantra became "I am not a wimp!" That was a powerful feeling--something I wasn't used to in my every day life. However, the first two weeks definitely qualified as "misery".

 

[WildPlace]

Haha, yes, to a friend, I compared walking the camino with childbirth: the pain/discomfort is soon gone and then you want to do it all over again

 

[Deise]

Yes. Now I'm home I get great satisfaction out of peeling the thick layers of dead skin off the spots that once were blisters. What that says about me I hate to think.

I should share that my original question was prompted by looking at a report from an out-patients department on the camino ALMOST with affection - this is months after returning home

 

[Bevey Ann]

I should share that my original question was prompted by looking at a report from an out-patients department on the camino ALMOST with affection - this is months after returning home

A week before commencing my Camino I had a fall at home and injured my ankle. I thought I had just suffered a bad sprain. I walked 185kms in great pain and on returning home a CT scan revealed I had a fracture of the Tibia at the base where it meets with the ankle. My ankle, foot and toes each evening were 3 times their normal size. As I had dreamed for 20 years of crossing the Pyrenees I just soldiered on and have never regretted doing is.

 

[Bevey Ann]

Forgot to add I am 73 years of age.

 

[Kanga]

@Bevey Ann talk about stoic! I hope you have the chance to go back someday and enjoy yourself without the pain.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I am not sure that there is a pilgrimage without pain; tolerable pain is my criterion!

 

[joeboybollo]

I am not sure that there is a pilgrimage without pain; tolerable pain is my criterion!

I loved showing my friends pictures of my 2 massive blisters last year and hearing them ooh and aah and saying 'how ever did you manage to carry on?'
I only walked 70 miles.I probably would not be boasting if I had to put up with them for 500 miles. All in all I think the odd blister is a rite of passage and something to be enjoyed(when you get back home!)

 

[Deleted member 3000]

All in all I think the odd blister is a rite of passage and something to be enjoyed

I have never had one!

 

[joeboybollo]

I have never had one!

Well,Falcon I've been fitted up with some 'proper' footwear for my next walk(imminent) and I hope I never see a blister again. Hoorah!!

 

[Rebekah Scott]

suffering -- even some misery -- is an inevitable part of every life.
The camino walk is a lifetime writ small.
So don't be surprised if you get some suffering going on in there. Don't let your blisters (or even a cracked tibia!) make you feel any more afflicted than the average pilgrim. Don't feel too righteous if you don't suffer.
That's all a part of living. It's all a part of the Way. How you deal with it is the real test.

 

[Deise]

Forgot to add I am 73 years of age.

I think you might have forgotten because it does not seem to be uppermost in your mind , hurrah

 

[thetimman]

Suffering, when offered up, can be spiritually beneficial. Not perhaps a commonly held opinion, but I offer it to those who undertake the pilgrimage for religious reasons. For all people, though, the suffering makes the pleasures more memorable and treasured, don't you think?

 

[domigee]

I hate to say but there was not much suffering involved? If there had been, I would have given up, I was ready for it.
I can hear the unkind comments already lol 'well she's French what do you expect'
No, it was hard the first time I admit, I was like a rabbit in headlights....but hey ho....

 

[Kanga]

I have walked with people whose focus was the avoidance of pain. It can be because of injury. No-one is immune to overwhelming pain - a broken leg is a broken leg. It can be because of disposition. Whatever the reason, when avouding pain is foremost, other things are lost. If avoiding pain became my prime goal, I would not continue.

Overcoming or tolerating or enduring hardship and suffering is different. Avoiding pain takes second place to another goal or goals. The pain is secondary. That can be enlightening and ennobling. It is part of what makes the Camino special.

So yes, I have enjoyed hardship and suffering. Bizarrely.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

With both arthritis in the ankles and Parkinson's Disease, avoiding pain makes the walk more enjoyable. I have not found that avoiding paint detracts from anything except the pain.

 

[Kanga]

I'm not against avoiding pain - give me neurophen every day! It's when that overwhelms everything. When it's the central facet of the walk.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

When it's the central facet of the walk.

To me, that may be a null set. Who would walk with that central facet? Indeed, such a pilgrim would stay home.

 

[Kanga]

@falcon269 I've come across a few who don't, and I've wished they had. Bad me!

 

[pensioner45]

When I found it tough I was inspired after seeing this guy. His friends carried him over waterlogged sections