- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2017 Camino Frances,
2019 C. Portuguese (inland).
For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here. (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation) |
---|
Mind body and spirit in balance..im glad others see this and spead the loveFor me, it is "something else".
My avatar (triquetra) derives from an understanding reached on my first Camino. One of the interpretations (there are many) of the symbol is that it represents the 'balanced human' - - an equalization of Body, Mind, and Spirit - - and that is the gift I was given from Camino #1.
Subsequent Caminos have neither contradicted the understanding nor diminished the value of the gift.
Walking the Camino is always an opportunity for me to restore the tri-polar balance.
I can, and do, engage in other activities that are helpful in this regard. But, BUT, walking the Camino has proven the most efficacious way for me to "defrag the wetware" sharing this body. Maybe that is just too esoteric an explanation, apologies if so...
YMMV,
B
Their is no difference, because we are also making steam when we climbed a hill on the camino!!!Addiction? Yes.
Obsession? Yes.
Something else? Yes.
But don't forget Hobby - my neighbour next door is a steam buff (it is rather anorak so the husband obviously, not the wife) - watches videos of steam engines, will talk to anyone about steam engines, has books on steam engines, collects steam engine souvenirs, wears steam engine badges, is with a group that talks about steam engines, member of an online forum that talks about steam engines, and goes sometimes hundreds of miles to stand with other anoraks in all weathers to watch a special running of a steam train go past ......
........... and the difference is???
But do you really think it keeps you from doing what you should be doing? Or do you think you should be walking a Camino? ;-)Dr. Walter Ling, a UCLA psychiatrist, says "Any behaviour carried to extreme that consumes you and keeps you from doing what you should be doing becomes an addiction as far as life is concerned,”
Pretty much sums up my affliction, and I wouldn't lose it for anything.
I always heard this as:Agreed. As they say...
First time is an incident
Second a coincidence
Third a habit
And beyond that a lifestyle...
For us its " something else " The Camino offers us Peace, Love, Bewilderment, Joy and a desire to be even closer to our God. Also what a privaledge to walk in the foot steps of Saint James. In our troubled world how wonderful it is to be given the chance to find the one who is able to offer us hope. God Bless.No to the first one. It takes too long, it’s too hard and it requires too much planning. It’s not an addiction. It’s not in the category of gambling, alcohol or drugs. And it’s certainly not “God’s heroin.” That’s taking poetic license to an extreme.
Is it an obsession? It can be. If you are neglecting other parts of your life and it’s impacting on your well-being and your relationships and if you think about that and not much else.
Maybe it’s simply something we love to do. There are good reasons for that. We have spoken about them in this forum, those reasons, many times.
So, let’s just say we love to travel on foot because it’s different.
View attachment 77598
I’d hang on to it if I were you. Borders will open sooner or later. Each Camino is different, very different. And it’s something to look forward to. You gotta have that. My boss once told me you need three things: something to do, someone to love and something to look forward to. End of work is tough, for sure. But if you look around you and see how you can apply your skills, somewhere and somehow, you might be surprised what you find. Hold on to your passions. Our passions is what keeps us.Addiction: No
Obsession: First time yes but next time no
Something else: Yes
For me, the first Camino came at exactly the time that I needed it the most.
I had finished a major project around a year earlier. This project had absorbed almost all of my time and energy for 10 years. The project was my purpose and my identity. Through the project I was able to contribute and this gave me my personal "worth" and purpose. It was interesting and pushed boundaries and so it made me "interesting" and somewhat "unique", it provided my identity.
Then it finished.
I had a plan for what I would do when it finished but that plan crashed within a couple of months and so I went to plan B. Plan B was to get a job using the leading edge skills and knowledge that I had developed during the project but the skills are very specialised and by then I was aged 65 and I found no one was prepared to employ me.
I no longer had a purpose and my identity changed from someone doing interesting and leading edge research to just another retired guy bumbling around in his garden.
I still had my friends though and I would sit down with my best friend and fishing buddy and we would plan trips and activities that we could do together when he retired next year.
Then he died unexpectedly from a rare complication from a common and relatively safe surgery.
I was lost.
We did at least get one of our "grand" trips together with our wives before that happened and I am thankful for that.
I tried to develop my interests and I joined a local hiking club. On one of the club hikes I overheard two ladies talking about the Camino and my ears pricked up. As I listened to them discussing their plans for the Camino it called to me.
That day, even though I knew almost nothing about what walking the Camino entailed, I knew that I would walk it. Not only would I walk it but I would (metaphorically) walk it with my friend. It would be a chance for one last great adventure together and a way of saying goodbye and letting go.
As I set about planning for the Camino, getting fit and getting the equipment that I needed I had a purpose and a razor sharp focus. I purposely purchased a flight 10 weeks out so that my questions for myself were along the lines of "how do I get this done?" Rather than "can I do this?" I did this because at the time the thought of me walking 800 kilometers seemed impossible and certainly when I talked to others about it they thought that I was crazy.
My focus got me there despite a couple of diversions that life threw at me like a broken tooth two weeks before I left and then a Kidney stone attack 10 days before I flew out.
About half way through the Camino I had an email conversation with my youngest daughter about having a purpose in life as she was off in Canada and having some issues with direction as well, when I realised that I had a purpose and an identity!
My identity was a Pilgrim and my purpose was to walk.
It is a very simple and very clear purpose, each day I get up and I walk. At some stage I stop to drink or eat but then I walk some more until it is time to stop for the day. Then I find a place to sleep, to clean my clothes and my body and to refresh. If I am lucky then I also get to talk to some interesting people doing something similar.
The next day I do exactly the same thing. Everything that I need is in a small backpack that I carry with me. This seems like the essence of life, unencumbered by complicated plans, stuff that I accumulate or any need to conform to someone else's ideas of what I should be doing.
This simplicity and clarity of purpose and identity is what is so attractive.
As I neared Santiago I got slower and sadder. I had another conversation with my daughter and I confessed that I was seriously considering not coming home to New Zealand.
In the end, I did go home but with the certainty that I would return the following year for an even longer stay of five to six months (I have dual citizenship with the UK and that is soon going to be almost worthless so I may as well use it while I can).
But then, of course, Covid 19 came along and that plan disappeared.
During lockdown here in NZ at it's tightest, we were confined to our house and the immediate vicinity and during that time, for some reason, the attractiveness of the Camino pilgrim identity and the purpose of walking has waned. I am not sure, perhaps I am suffering from cabin fever even though we are now free to do almost anything in NZ as we have no community transmitted infection and no real restrictions.
Perhaps I now see that the Pilgrim identity is a fiction and perhaps my purpose now lies elsewhere.
I am not sure anymore.
To me it is just something I love , and was planning to travel to Spain again in early October I wanted to walk in a cooler time ,I had always walked the Camino in late April to early June . My heart goes out to all those little villages and town that depend on the pilgrims. We are so blessed here in Australia, not the population and wide countryside , and everything closed down so quickly. Prayers to all .No to the first one. It takes too long, it’s too hard and it requires too much planning. It’s not an addiction. It’s not in the category of gambling, alcohol or drugs. And it’s certainly not “God’s heroin.” That’s taking poetic license to an extreme.
Is it an obsession? It can be. If you are neglecting other parts of your life and it’s impacting on your well-being and your relationships and if you think about that and not much else.
Maybe it’s simply something we love to do. There are good reasons for that. We have spoken about them in this forum, those reasons, many times.
So, let’s just say we love to travel on foot because it’s different.
View attachment 77598
Maybe. But it is fine for things to wax and wane, and that doesn't make them fictions. I am consciously enjoying and cultivating different activities this spring and summer at home, since it is the first time in forever that I haven't had travel plans or work obligations to occupy most of my time. I still hope to resume my Caminos, but I am very happy to be developing a Plan B (other activities and hobbies) in case I can't.for some reason, the attractiveness of the Camino pilgrim identity and the purpose of walking has waned...
Perhaps I now see that the Pilgrim identity is a fiction and perhaps my purpose now lies elsewhere.
Yes, this is so true.you need three things: something to do, someone to love and something to look forward to.
I agree utterly. All the answers above have said what the camino is to them. None seemed to quite fit for me until I read this. As for what it is to me, the camino was a gift from God, to be called to walk that Holy Road. If I cannot return, I shall hope that it has done its work on me. My hope for return is based, oddly, on my sense that I still have so much to learn in this life, and the Holy Road has been for me a wonderful place to learn.The camino, that's a Holy Road. To be walked in piety when required.
I agree utterly. All the answers above have said what the camino is to them. None seemed to quite fit for me until I read this. As for what it is to me, the camino was a gift from God, to be called to walk that Holy Road. If I cannot return, I shall hope that it has done its work on me. My hope for return is based, oddly, on my sense that I still have so much to learn in this life, and the Holy Road has been for me a wonderful place to learn.
Tricky one. I think that it is neither but both. What the Camino does (I think) is opens a whole spiritual part of one's being that you had no acknowledged existed. The energy pulse of meeting so many interesting people at the same time in a situation crammed with spiritual, emotional and historical significance is overwhelming. You realise that this is something that you cannot encounter anywhere-else, so you strive to relive it. For me this is the Camino.No to the first one. It takes too long, it’s too hard and it requires too much planning. It’s not an addiction. It’s not in the category of gambling, alcohol or drugs. And it’s certainly not “God’s heroin.” That’s taking poetic license to an extreme.
Is it an obsession? It can be. If you are neglecting other parts of your life and it’s impacting on your well-being and your relationships and if you think about that and not much else.
Maybe it’s simply something we love to do. There are good reasons for that. We have spoken about them in this forum, those reasons, many times.
So, let’s just say we love to travel on foot because it’s different.
View attachment 77598
Addiction: No
Obsession: First time yes but next time no
Something else: Yes
For me, the first Camino came at exactly the time that I needed it the most.
I had finished a major project around a year earlier. This project had absorbed almost all of my time and energy for 10 years. The project was my purpose and my identity. Through the project I was able to contribute and this gave me my personal "worth" and purpose. It was interesting and pushed boundaries and so it made me "interesting" and somewhat "unique", it provided my identity.
Then it finished.
I had a plan for what I would do when it finished but that plan crashed within a couple of months and so I went to plan B. Plan B was to get a job using the leading edge skills and knowledge that I had developed during the project but the skills are very specialised and by then I was aged 65 and I found no one was prepared to employ me.
I no longer had a purpose and my identity changed from someone doing interesting and leading edge research to just another retired guy bumbling around in his garden.
I still had my friends though and I would sit down with my best friend and fishing buddy and we would plan trips and activities that we could do together when he retired next year.
Then he died unexpectedly from a rare complication from a common and relatively safe surgery.
I was lost.
We did at least get one of our "grand" trips together with our wives before that happened and I am thankful for that.
I tried to develop my interests and I joined a local hiking club. On one of the club hikes I overheard two ladies talking about the Camino and my ears pricked up. As I listened to them discussing their plans for the Camino it called to me.
That day, even though I knew almost nothing about what walking the Camino entailed, I knew that I would walk it. Not only would I walk it but I would (metaphorically) walk it with my friend. It would be a chance for one last great adventure together and a way of saying goodbye and letting go.
As I set about planning for the Camino, getting fit and getting the equipment that I needed I had a purpose and a razor sharp focus. I purposely purchased a flight 10 weeks out so that my questions for myself were along the lines of "how do I get this done?" Rather than "can I do this?" I did this because at the time the thought of me walking 800 kilometers seemed impossible and certainly when I talked to others about it they thought that I was crazy.
My focus got me there despite a couple of diversions that life threw at me like a broken tooth two weeks before I left and then a Kidney stone attack 10 days before I flew out.
About half way through the Camino I had an email conversation with my youngest daughter about having a purpose in life as she was off in Canada and having some issues with direction as well, when I realised that I had a purpose and an identity!
My identity was a Pilgrim and my purpose was to walk.
It is a very simple and very clear purpose, each day I get up and I walk. At some stage I stop to drink or eat but then I walk some more until it is time to stop for the day. Then I find a place to sleep, to clean my clothes and my body and to refresh. If I am lucky then I also get to talk to some interesting people doing something similar.
The next day I do exactly the same thing. Everything that I need is in a small backpack that I carry with me. This seems like the essence of life, unencumbered by complicated plans, stuff that I accumulate or any need to conform to someone else's ideas of what I should be doing.
This simplicity and clarity of purpose and identity is what is so attractive.
As I neared Santiago I got slower and sadder. I had another conversation with my daughter and I confessed that I was seriously considering not coming home to New Zealand.
In the end, I did go home but with the certainty that I would return the following year for an even longer stay of five to six months (I have dual citizenship with the UK and that is soon going to be almost worthless so I may as well use it while I can).
But then, of course, Covid 19 came along and that plan disappeared.
During lockdown here in NZ at it's tightest, we were confined to our house and the immediate vicinity and during that time, for some reason, the attractiveness of the Camino pilgrim identity and the purpose of walking has waned. I am not sure, perhaps I am suffering from cabin fever even though we are now free to do almost anything in NZ as we have no community transmitted infection and no real restrictions.
Perhaps I now see that the Pilgrim identity is a fiction and perhaps my purpose now lies elsewhere.
I am not sure anymore.
I’d hang on to it if I were you. Borders will open sooner or later. Each Camino is different, very different. And it’s something to look forward to. You gotta have that. My boss once told me you need three things: something to do, someone to love and something to look forward to. End of work is tough, for sure. But if you look around you and see how you can apply your skills, somewhere and somehow, you might be surprised what you find. Hold on to your passions. Our passions is what keeps us.
Me neither...and it has really thrown me off! Thank you for your story and your honesty.Addiction: No
Obsession: First time yes but next time no
Something else: Yes
For me, the first Camino came at exactly the time that I needed it the most.
I had finished a major project around a year earlier. This project had absorbed almost all of my time and energy for 10 years. The project was my purpose and my identity. Through the project I was able to contribute and this gave me my personal "worth" and purpose. It was interesting and pushed boundaries and so it made me "interesting" and somewhat "unique", it provided my identity.
Then it finished.
I had a plan for what I would do when it finished but that plan crashed within a couple of months and so I went to plan B. Plan B was to get a job using the leading edge skills and knowledge that I had developed during the project but the skills are very specialised and by then I was aged 65 and I found no one was prepared to employ me.
I no longer had a purpose and my identity changed from someone doing interesting and leading edge research to just another retired guy bumbling around in his garden.
I still had my friends though and I would sit down with my best friend and fishing buddy and we would plan trips and activities that we could do together when he retired next year.
Then he died unexpectedly from a rare complication from a common and relatively safe surgery.
I was lost.
We did at least get one of our "grand" trips together with our wives before that happened and I am thankful for that.
I tried to develop my interests and I joined a local hiking club. On one of the club hikes I overheard two ladies talking about the Camino and my ears pricked up. As I listened to them discussing their plans for the Camino it called to me.
That day, even though I knew almost nothing about what walking the Camino entailed, I knew that I would walk it. Not only would I walk it but I would (metaphorically) walk it with my friend. It would be a chance for one last great adventure together and a way of saying goodbye and letting go.
As I set about planning for the Camino, getting fit and getting the equipment that I needed I had a purpose and a razor sharp focus. I purposely purchased a flight 10 weeks out so that my questions for myself were along the lines of "how do I get this done?" Rather than "can I do this?" I did this because at the time the thought of me walking 800 kilometers seemed impossible and certainly when I talked to others about it they thought that I was crazy.
My focus got me there despite a couple of diversions that life threw at me like a broken tooth two weeks before I left and then a Kidney stone attack 10 days before I flew out.
About half way through the Camino I had an email conversation with my youngest daughter about having a purpose in life as she was off in Canada and having some issues with direction as well, when I realised that I had a purpose and an identity!
My identity was a Pilgrim and my purpose was to walk.
It is a very simple and very clear purpose, each day I get up and I walk. At some stage I stop to drink or eat but then I walk some more until it is time to stop for the day. Then I find a place to sleep, to clean my clothes and my body and to refresh. If I am lucky then I also get to talk to some interesting people doing something similar.
The next day I do exactly the same thing. Everything that I need is in a small backpack that I carry with me. This seems like the essence of life, unencumbered by complicated plans, stuff that I accumulate or any need to conform to someone else's ideas of what I should be doing.
This simplicity and clarity of purpose and identity is what is so attractive.
As I neared Santiago I got slower and sadder. I had another conversation with my daughter and I confessed that I was seriously considering not coming home to New Zealand.
In the end, I did go home but with the certainty that I would return the following year for an even longer stay of five to six months (I have dual citizenship with the UK and that is soon going to be almost worthless so I may as well use it while I can).
But then, of course, Covid 19 came along and that plan disappeared.
During lockdown here in NZ at it's tightest, we were confined to our house and the immediate vicinity and during that time, for some reason, the attractiveness of the Camino pilgrim identity and the purpose of walking has waned. I am not sure, perhaps I am suffering from cabin fever even though we are now free to do almost anything in NZ as we have no community transmitted infection and no real restrictions.
Perhaps I now see that the Pilgrim identity is a fiction and perhaps my purpose now lies elsewhere.
I am not sure anymore.
You have expressed what I, and possibly many others, feel. Thank you. I was reading this morning on another post about all the restrictions and hygienic practices which pilgrims on the camino are expected to carry out if they return now. That is not my camino, and I cannot imagine returning until all that is over (if ever). I can see why that is a balance between a longer term closure and risking early opening without doing something major to limit the spread of the virus. Others may experience it differently. Of course, I recognize that much of my sadness may be from the whole environment of the pandemic. In another year, when the worst has passed and I have read a few happy blogs from pilgrims on the camino, I may get my vaccination and my air ticket and head off again to Spain. But for now, I am sad.the strange sadness is there, as I wonder if I have walked my final steps on that magical road.....
No to the first one. It takes too long, it’s too hard and it requires too much planning. It’s not an addiction. It’s not in the category of gambling, alcohol or drugs. And it’s certainly not “God’s heroin.” That’s taking poetic license to an extreme.
Is it an obsession? It can be. If you are neglecting other parts of your life and it’s impacting on your well-being and your relationships and if you think about that and not much else.
Maybe it’s simply something we love to do. There are good reasons for that. We have spoken about them in this forum, those reasons, many times.
So, let’s just say we love to travel on foot because it’s different.
Camino walking an Addiction: No
We all know the 4 main Addictions Drugs Alcohol Gambling and Sex
Sex not to be confused with Love Iwalk caminos because I am a Walker
I will walk anywhere I can
I don't own a car i don't cycle cruising No Way
I fly to get to Spain France Portugal so i can Walk
I don't talk or even tell people I am on Camino
Camino bores bore me to death
I missed my camino trek this year because of Pandemic i had planned SJPdP to Santiago Finniste and Murcia
I am old fit and strong so maybe late october or next year I will be off
Good safe hobby but certainly Not Addicted
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?