RevBarbaraG
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- CF (2018)
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) |
---|
Part of the problem is jet-lag. That takes me about one day per time zone. Part of it is inflammation and over-use recovery for your muscles and joints; that took me about two months. Mentally - not resolvedexcept by planning for the next pilgrimage!How long did it take you to get back to yourself?
Ah, congratulations, @RevBarbaraG !But I have no energy.
And maybe go see your GP. There may be a simple physical reason. If it were me, I'd have a doc check my iron levels. Foot strike hemolysis is found in distance runners but can cause anemia in all sorts of people:
"Footstrike hemolysis is not only seen in long-distance runners: It has also been observed in other types of athletes, such as cyclists and swimmers, and in nonathletes, such as soldiers after a strenuous march..."
So glad to see you are safe home! You have already received useful replies, and I don’t rememember! However, If you can suffer the dust, put on your shoes, head out for a wander, and breathe in while you run over everything in your mind.. you will get there. Might I just add: be kind to yourself. You have just done something wonderful, and you deserve to let it inform every last inch of who you are now!I know it’s going to vary a lot based on age, fitness level, how hard you pushed yourself etc, but I would like to get a feel for the range of time it took people to feel normal again!
I arrived at SdC on Saturday, having walked from SJPdP in 38 days, minus a little bus ride because of knee pain. I was exhausted in a way I have never known before. Had 3 days of R&R in a nice apartment in Santiago (OK, the 3rd day we took the bus to Finisterre and did the 9.9K loop), travelled home on Wednesday, and yesterday and today I have been pootling round the house, getting things straight after some building work while we were away. Dust everywhere!
But I have no energy. I want to sit down all the time. Fortunately, I don’t start back to work until a week on Monday.... but there are lots of jobs I want to get done round the house!
How long did it take you to get back to yourself?
I wish I had thought to say that.Might I just add: be kind to yourself. You have just done something wonderful, and you deserve to let it inform every last inch of who you are now!
Ditto, and for a similar reason (except my Dad was a pathologistAs the daughter of a GP, I have an instinctive aversion to visiting the GP unless I really need to.
I know it’s going to vary a lot based on age, fitness level, how hard you pushed yourself etc, but I would like to get a feel for the range of time it took people to feel normal again!
I arrived at SdC on Saturday, having walked from SJPdP in 38 days, minus a little bus ride because of knee pain. I was exhausted in a way I have never known before. Had 3 days of R&R in a nice apartment in Santiago (OK, the 3rd day we took the bus to Finisterre and did the 9.9K loop), travelled home on Wednesday, and yesterday and today I have been pootling round the house, getting things straight after some building work while we were away. Dust everywhere!
But I have no energy. I want to sit down all the time. Fortunately, I don’t start back to work until a week on Monday.... but there are lots of jobs I want to get done round the house!
How long did it take you to get back to yourself?
It takes me a while (a week or two) to GET OUT OF CAMINO MODE, by that I mean that on our Camino we have a single focus broken down into small parts..... Walk, Wash, Eat, Sleep and repeat.
During the walking part we have our own thoughts, time, space and self awareness.
Come end of Camino, that simplicity is stolen away from us and where for a few precious weeks we could be selfish, to a degree, in thought and deed, we return to where people need us to be what we were before we made our Camino.
I guess for some folks, that's a big return to make, no matter how loving the welcome.
Buen (start planning again) Camino
Be glad the blisters are healing. I think part of it is psychological as Bradypus and others have indicated. I now go every year and when I am finally unable, don't know how I will handle it!There’s only one hour difference between Spain and UK, although I was getting up earlier on the Camino, and going to bed a LOT earlier. Going to have to get used to not being in bed for 9.5-10 hours per night.
My healing blisters itch like anything!
I finished my Camino September 30 2017. I have not really reintegrated yet. Or I have but not back to the life I was living before I left. My belongings are in storage, I don't have an apartment or a house. I have been living with different friends and family and have no desire to settle down anywhere. I am 56 and single. I walked the Camino with my daughter who met the love of her life there and has remained in Europe as a result. We are from Canada. I walked with planter fasciitis which has only recently healed...well it has healed but now I have excruciating pain on the top of my foot. I haven't been able to do much of anything physically exerting as a result since I returned. It has been a period of deep healing on many levels. Thankfully I am self employed (I am also an ordained minister) and able to organize my work based on what I feel able and desirous to do. I am definitely in active transition. The Camino opened my eyes, my heart and my understanding of service. I head to Germany in a few weeks for over a month to finally see my daughter and in spite of the pain, I believe I will commune with a Camino again if only for a brief spell this time. It is with me forever now.
How long did it take you to get back to yourself?
Thank you for this heartfelt and very beautiful post, @Purky. It no doubt took courage to write that, but others out here will take inspiration from its message of possibility.I am eternally grateful that my wife also likes walking, so now we plan hiking holidays and weekends together and I can get a large part of my 'fix' from those.
On the other hand, I am also eternally grateful that I have felt the way I felt during my camino. I now know that those feelings are possible and attainable for me.
Thank you for this heartfelt and very beautiful post, @Purky. It no doubt took courage to write that, but others out here will take inspiration from its message of possibility.
And you write so beautifully!
I hope you are keeping some kind of a journal as your life puts itself together in a new way - because there may come a time when you look back and want to share what the camino has opened. The door was there. You walked through it. And as you keep walking, the next thing will appear, like a village along the way.
Buen camino, peregrino.
That's pretty articulate bumbling, so it's great to hear you're writing - if nothing else it helps digest and integrate what's going on, which is no small thing.Gracias. I am actually writing about the whole experience, which may or may not get published when I have finished it. I'll see by then, it is of no importance right now. Finding the right tone and the right words is what matters at present. Bumbling along, just as I did two years ago..
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?