Post Camino can things ever be normal again?

[Alasdair Kay]

So I'm back from the most amazing 38 days ever walking from STJPDP to Finisterre and Muxia .... and life returns to normal. The problem is I've changed, and watching video's of the Camino makes me cry. Bizarrely I long to be awake in an Albergue at 5:30 am packing my rucksack and anticipating walking as dawn rises. I dream of mist over Castrojeriz at dawn, of wind blowing through the corn on the Meseta, dusk at O Ceberio, and the feel of the sea on my bare feet as I walked the last three km's on the beach at Finisterre in the mist. I long to see sunset at Muxia again and the longing hurts ... Is this normal, and can I get back to normal again or will the longing get worse?

 

[Wildflower Woman]

What beautiful descriptions of your journey, thank you for sharing and taking me back for just a moment as well. The Camino forever changes ones soul, I believe, and that is part of the journey. It has continued to affect me some two years later, and I will never forget the journey. Yes, what you describe is all so very normal for most of us. Enjoy your continued journey, and all the rich blessings.

 

[Seabird]

It's very odd, but I'm almost having the opposite reaction, having returned a few weeks ago. It feels almost like I was never there, like I have detached from it. I'm not obsessively reading the Forum, reading or watching all things Camino. It was one of my greatest experiences ever, but I feel numb.

Self-protection? Will this facade come crashing down?

 

[Volker_]

Is this normal, and can I get back to normal again or will the longing get worse?

Hi,

after returning from my Camino in late October I managed to keep that "Camino state of mind" for a few weeks, but then work and family took their toll again. In fact, I've been struggling a bit to keep myself on track - plus I had a lot of work in this first half of the year.
I've changed, too, and that makes it so difficult to "just go back" to the life I led before the Camino. Of course, I knew that I'd be coming back and taking thing up from where I put them down before my Camino.
I've learned that there's even a book (in German) about this post-Camino Blues. Where does it come from? Well, for me it's this: the Camino gave me 5 weeks of "simple life". Walk, eat, sleep, repeat. This led me to a kind of meditative calmness. Of course my everyday life isn't like this, so I feel a constant mourning or sadness in the life I lead now.
And here's what I hope will help: holidays in Spain (this summer) and a return to the Camino next summer with my younger son.

cu
Volker

 

[Michael Garver]

I am training and preparing for my first Camino, but as a pediatrician particularly during training I had so many profound emotional experiences that I continue to carry as part of me today. To give our lives purpose and meaning many of us seek to enrich our lives beyound that of a traditional life. The power of activating your entire being and testing your inner strength to it's unknown capacity will leave an indelible mark on your soul. That is what I hope for on my Camino. I came across a biblical reference that for me sums up the Camino- "Man's goings are of the Lord. How can man then understand his own way? " Psalm 20:24

 

[simply B]

@Alasdair Kay-

A common problem, I think, for the denizens of this forum.

You can, of course, start planning your next Camino. It is an approach highly regarded in this little community.

Equally recommended, but easier to do, is to scan the Forum when possible to help you process your own thoughts and provide your own unique insights to others.

But getting back to "Normal"? The only situation where "Normal" means "Fixed Conditions" is that named setting on clothes dryers. (Of course, one must clean the lint trap for the assumption to hold!)

Last, and far more difficult, you can slowly and steadily start to apply what you learned on Camino into your daily life to create your "new" normal.

It is a slow, hard (but rewarding) process.

Warning!

It may not be readily understandable to others.

Feel free to PM me if you wish to know how this applied to me but the actual changes you might make are totally dependent upon what you learned.

B

 

[notion900]

You won't be the same again, and you will go back. I have done Frances, and am part way through both Norte and Plata, going back in 2 weeks. My mother and I joke that I always have 'unfinished business' in Spain and I hope I always will do! Today I went in the Spanish shop in Borough Market and had a little camino chat with the guy there who sold me some boquerones. Lovely. Don't be sad and pore over videos. Dole out some advice and encouragements on the Forums, take a bit of a mental break from it, then plan the next episode.

 

[VNwalking]

Think 'New Normal. ' You'll never be able to jam yourself back into the way you were before--that's impossible, asking the clock to run backwards. So the task is to take what happened for you on the Camino and to integrate it, longing and all. The longing may not be about the Camino at all--perhaps (more deeply) it's about simplicity and authenticity and open-heartedness. Only you will know.
Bottom line is to be kind to yourself, and to be kind to those in your life who will not be able to understand from their own experience what you're talking about, and what you long for.
Now is probably not a time to make snap life-changing decisions or radical changes--but just to let it all settle for a bit and not to rush into anything when it's so tender.
And yes...perhaps plan your next pilgrimage.

 

[ess1113]

So I'm back from the most amazing 38 days ever walking from STJPDP to Finisterre and Muxia .... and life returns to normal. The problem is I've changed, and watching video's of the Camino makes me cry. Bizarrely I long to be awake in an Albergue at 5:30 am packing my rucksack and anticipating walking as dawn rises. I dream of mist over Castrojeriz at dawn, of wind blowing through the corn on the Meseta, dusk at O Ceberio, and the feel of the sea on my bare feet as I walked the last three km's on the beach at Finisterre in the mist. I long to see sunset at Muxia again and the longing hurts ... Is this normal, and can I get back to normal again or will the longing get worse?

Things can never be the same again in short.
I have been back 7 weeks and not a day goes by that I don't long for the Camino and the simplicity of those 30 days.

While I have gone back to my job and the issues associated with that, I am still contemplative on my hour drive to and from that employment. For those two hours each day I am back in Spain and focused on one step, one kilometer, one hill, and one day at a time.

How do you explain the internal changes when those changes are inexplicable by definition? In that sense returning from the Camino is alot like returning from Iraq. A similar life changing event. Unless you have done it and experienced it then words can never explain that metamorphosis. You have changed and the world around you didnt change accordingly.

I carry the Portugese Route guidebook with me daily to remind myself of what my 2017 Camino will be.

I'm sorry I don't have any solutions for your troubled and changed soul, but I wanted to offer some consolation in that you are not alone and you have something in common with almost all pilgrims. Buen Camino always

 

[amorfati1]

So I'm back from the most amazing 38 days ever walking from STJPDP to Finisterre and Muxia .... and life returns to normal. The problem is I've changed, and watching video's of the Camino makes me cry. Bizarrely I long to be awake in an Albergue at 5:30 am packing my rucksack and anticipating walking as dawn rises. I dream of mist over Castrojeriz at dawn, of wind blowing through the corn on the Meseta, dusk at O Ceberio, and the feel of the sea on my bare feet as I walked the last three km's on the beach at Finisterre in the mist. I long to see sunset at Muxia again and the longing hurts ... Is this normal, and can I get back to normal again or will the longing get worse?

Alastair - why ever you want to get back to 'normal'? (whatever that might be .)
that longing is like sweet-grief. it's something precious - cherish it if you can.
and it may or may not draw you back to that particular location , or the longing may just stay with you as a scent one can't detect - but you carry it in your heart nonetheless.
if you can - cherish this longing and see what life might offer in regards to the Camino.
or - you might 'look' for, become aware of what it was that touched and moved you so much.
very best wishes,
buen camino!
C

 

[Michael Garver]

Think 'New Normal. ' You'll never be able to jam yourself back into the way you were before--that's impossible, asking the clock to run backwards. So the task is to take what happened for you on the Camino and to integrate it, longing and all. The longing may not be about the Camino at all--perhaps (more deeply) it's about simplicity and authenticity and open-heartedness. Only you will know.
Bottom line is to be kind to yourself, and to be kind to those in your life who will not be able to understand from their own experience what you're talking about, and what you long for.
Now is probably not a time to make snap life-changing decisions or radical changes--but just to let it all settle for a bit and not to rush into anything when it's so tender.
And yes...perhaps plan your next pilgrimage.

Excellent perspective and advice- one of the beauties of the Camino is taking a personal leap of faith and risk- believing purely in yourself and the goodness and grace of others around you. You get a new perspective on life and return home where circumstances and people are the same. They have not been transformed. I hope to build off the strength and courage that it takes to depart on a journey of this magnitude and let it lead me afterward- no regrets

 

[Deleted member 43985]

I think few people ever really live the life they really want. We are told as children growing up that we must work, make money, get married, buy a house, etc etc. Then we wake up one day and realize that that isn't the be all-end all, afterall! Then the Camino find us and draws us to it. Once we are there a whole new life, a new existence reveals itself to us and shows us the true simplicity and joy that life can be. All the cliches become our mantras and before you know it we are just the Pilgrims we were always meant to be. We get home and wonder how that feeling can transfer into everyday life but like many other types of loss, we can also be left wondering if it is better to have loved and lost or never loved at all. The longing subsides, the day dreaming diminishes and the constant pouring over old photos slows. But then the magic walks through the door again one day when another opportunity to walk another Camino appears and the planning starts and all is right in the world again!! We are planning our 3rd Camino now and already excited about it and what new adventure and lessons the Camino will share with us

 

[Robo]

The Camino needs to come with an 'emotion' warning.

Life is not the same post Camino....

 

[Isca-camigo]

You are on a new path, which means you have different aims and places you want to get too. It might take a while to be comfortable with this, take it as a special gift which could completely transfom you with time.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Just a temporary illusion, but enjoy it while it lasts. with some luck a few bits and pieces of what you have experienced will stay with you, as you go back to who you are, under regular life circumstances, vs Camino illusions.

 

[Robo]

Just a temporary illusion, but enjoy it while it lasts. with some luck a few bits and pieces of what you have experienced will stay with you, as you go back to who you are, under regular life circumstances, vs Camino illusions.

What a Cynic you are

Perhaps 'regular' life is the illusion

 

[november_moon]

I think the key is to examine your life and figure out what's no longer working for you. Figure out how to incorporate the things you most enjoyed about the Camino into your life. The Camino has changed you, so figure out what you can change in your life to better fit the new you. We all still have our responsibilities and may not have the ability to make huge changes in our lives, but we can make incremental changes - our focus, how we specialize do free time, etc. I think that's part of the Camino - to be changed through the experience and then to take that back to our regular lives and incorporate what we can.

 

[ess1113]

I think the key is to examine your life and figure out what's no longer working for you. Figure out how to incorporate the things you most enjoyed about the Camino into your life. The Camino has changed you, so figure out what you can change in your life to better fit the new you. We all still have our responsibilities and may not have the ability to make huge changes in our lives, but we can make incremental changes - our focus, how we specialize do free time, etc. I think that's part of the Camino - to be changed through the experience and then to take that back to our regular lives and incorporate what we can.

Well said.
The Camino doesn't change, people change.
The mistake is expecting life to be different, when the onus of change is with the individual.
Reminds me of the old expression: "If you view life the same way at 50 that you did when you were 25, then you just wasted 25 years".
I resolved to myself prior to starting that I would be open to whatever changes with me.
After I returned home, I started cleaning up my relationships the same way I cleaned by rucksack. If I didn't need someone or something then I got rid of it. Not in a mean way but just a severance of relations. I just didn't need the extra weight in my rucksack or my life.

 

[domigee]

So I'm back from the most amazing 38 days ever walking from STJPDP to Finisterre and Muxia .... and life returns to normal. The problem is I've changed, and watching video's of the Camino makes me cry. Bizarrely I long to be awake in an Albergue at 5:30 am packing my rucksack and anticipating walking as dawn rises. I dream of mist over Castrojeriz at dawn, of wind blowing through the corn on the Meseta, dusk at O Ceberio, and the feel of the sea on my bare feet as I walked the last three km's on the beach at Finisterre in the mist. I long to see sunset at Muxia again and the longing hurts ... Is this normal, and can I get back to normal again or will the longing get worse?

Hi Alasdair! I felt exactly the same as you after walking my first camino and indeed wondered if it was 'normal' A fellow pilgrim sent me a lovely video of the camino we shared at times and yes, stupidly enough it made me cry.
I shared my feelings with a camino 'mate' and yes, he felt the same....it was his 3rd....
We ended up walking more caminos!
In my 'real' life I made what seems like pointless changes... I don't buy clothes anymore, I make them (unless they're Camino related of course ),
I try to unclutter my life... Little things... And I try and stay well clear of people who upset me, to try and keep that lovely 'Camino spirit'.

All the best for the future, peregrino,
Dominique

 

[november_moon]

One way of incorporating the Camino into my life is that I keep my Camino shell on my desk at work. When I feel stressed out, fed up, etc., or just when I feel like it, I take a moment to put my hand on my shell, close my eyes, and conjure up some Camino Spirit - that sense of peacefulness and mind-body-soul connection that I felt while walking. It helps. It doesn't actually change the situation, but it changes how I react to whatever is going on - and I think that is part of the Camino - a change within ourselves that can help us deal more effectively with whatever is going on in life. Sometimes you can't avoid the stressful situations, but we can choose how we react to them.

I am fortunate that there isn't a lot that I want to change in my life, but walking the Camino helped me be more focused on the adjustments that I want to make. Finding joy in and being grateful for the small things is one example. Today at lunch I was driving down the road - it's a hot sunny day and I had the windows and the sunroof open - an awesome song came on the radio that I hadn't heard in a long time, but I still remembered the words, so I sang (badly) at the top of my voice - the wind through my hair, sun on my face - and I realized that this was pure joy. I went back to the office and rode that feeling of joy through the whole afternoon. Pre-Camino, I don't think I would have felt that level of pure joy. I would have enjoyed the song, probably even sung along, but I would have been thinking about this and that and the other thing I had to do. I wouldn't have allowed myself to just be in that moment, and then carry that moment through my day.

 

[Maxie]

After walking the Frances and the ingles last year which I really enjoyed.
I came to the conclusion that the older I become the more precious time is and money becomes less so . This year I'm walking the whole summer already completed the Frances from St Jean and the Norte from Irun. Having an absolute blast.

 

[DowtyCamino]

I know this isn't the sentiment of this forum as a whole, but I think it depends on what your "Normal" life entails. Personally, to a great extent, I was eager to get back to my Normal life. I enjoy my life and with the exception of a few times here and there I always have. It is by no means perfect (as judged by the world) but every day of it has been a blessing and has served purpose. I did want to keep some of the slow pace attitude that came with Camino and indeed I was disappointed about how quickly my American work-life overpowered my desire for to remain quiet. The first few days back at work I struggled to keep pace with my colleagues - information was being delivered and decisions were being made at what seemed like a breakneck pace. It was dizzying. I sat quietly in my office for a few days watching it all with some degree of astonishment. Too soon however, I was back at "full speed". It was a bit sad.

We walked Camino two years ago. And while it was an amazing journey and absolutely worthwhile, I can't say it changed my life nor was it the amazing spiritual or emotional journey that I'd heard so many speak of. With that said, I began to get the itch for another adventure a few months ago and another Camino was right near the top of the list. We are going back again in May2017 and I am excited to reconnect with Camino at an even slower pace this time.

A final thought - what if Camino is normal and your other life is the fabrication? Honestly I think we are more ideal to each other on Camino. Perhaps our sophistication and socialization are the falseness.

 

[MaxfromMO]

We were forever changed by our Camino. Our thoughts conversations and actions are divided between how or what we did or thought before the Camino as opposed to how or what we did or thought after the Camino. After three years that has never changed.

 

[Alasdair Kay]

Thank you all of you it has got easier apart from bizarrely earlier today I thought i could kill a jamon y caeso bocadillo .... the emotions have moved from sorrow to joy.. trying not to plan another yet

 

[capecorps]

Can things ever be normal again?

Yes and no. It can be normal for up to forty years, but eventually it will catch up to you. Probably not a bad thing.

I was a teenager in the Summer of love: the best of times and the very best of times. It was a hot summer; the sun blazed out of a cloudless blue sky and the summer breeze wooed us with rich promises great adventure, daring deeds and a new world. Never a laggard, I quit High school in Kitchener Waterloo, grew my hair, started a commune with my buddies, left for Yorkville and hitchhiked to southern Spain at the age of seventeen; stayed for a year and had the very best time of my life. And it wasn’t (just) sex, drugs and rock and roll; for me and mine, it really was, trite as it sounds to our jaundiced ear today: peace and love. When I got back to Canada, the movement had become commercialized and we just may have opened Pandora’s Box.

So I became normal and basically turned into my father. Went to university, became a Chartered Accountant, got married, had three children, acquired progressively bigger houses, worked for thirty five years and retired four years ago. A pretty successful life by normal standards, but I was always haunted by that year in Spain in 1969. That was the gold standard by which most events (other than the first time I kissed my wife under a star studded sky and the joy of my children) paled by comparison.

So the first thing I did when I was home free: duty done: wife happy; children grown and established; comfortably retired; was haul out my old backpack from 1969 and catch a plane to Spain and walk the Camino.

Did I recapture 1969; did I come back home to that magical land, a land shrouded in the mists of time, the land of my dreams: a land of bright sunshine, impossibly blue skies, spectacular vistas and good, honest and cheerful people. Did I stand on the mountaintop under the same stars I stood under over forty years ago and still feel the universe suffuse my being, course through my veins, be as one with everything; did my heart still burst with the oneness and rightness of it all. Did I still feel happiness verging on ecstasy simply by being there? Yes, I did.

Do I miss my brothers from 1969? Mellow guys, cool guys, open guys, good guys: laughing in the sun, slapping me on the shoulder: don’t be so serious, Derek: we here forever: this is the best of all possible worlds. Yes, I do miss them. But I found them again: another name, another nationality, still chiding me for being too serious: my brothers.

 

[mspath]

"But to have been,
This once, completely, even if only once:
To have been at one with the earth, seems beyond undoing."

Rainer Maria Rilke,
9th Duino Elegy

 

[Flem]

Know exatly how you feel. Have the same feeling, and I've changed as well - more than I anticipating.
I watch all the movies on Youtube and of cause The Way and I wish I was there again, in the easylife where three things i impotant: Sleep, Walk, Eat and ofcause Repeat.
I have to go back - have to

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Like Capecorps said - once you've opened Pandora's Box . . .

Each time I get to SdC it's "Never again!" - I set on number 5 next month.

Besides look up normal and you get:


and we, we happy few, we band of brothers are certainly none of the above!

 

[Maxie]

I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news.

John Muir, 1883

 

[jacobusg]

I suggest that the Camino is significant for many because there is a deliberate intent to step outside your own comfort/habit zone, and there are always consequences when we do that (even if unacknowledged). Some we may welcome, others not, some just are and pass unremarked.
Sometimes we find what we seek, because that's all we are open to.

But the same can be said of any move away from 'normal' in our everyday lives.

A graffito outside Leon (when I saw it)

"el camino real
se tu misma ideal
solo es interno
fin" (this last word grayed out as if an attempt to wash off)

Which I understood as, "The real camino is within, to be (or realise) yourself". (Others may have a better understanding of the original intention.)

 

[Alasdair Kay]

Like Capecorps said - once you've opened Pandora's Box . . .

Each time I get to SdC it's "Never again!" - I set on number 5 next month.

Besides look up normal and you get:

View attachment 27528
and we, we happy few, we band of brothers are certainly none of the above!

so so true

 

[Alasdair Kay]

I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news.

John Muir, 1883

Beautiful just beautiful

 

[Alasdair Kay]

Since I've returned I've not experienced dawn with a new horizon filled with mist and sunshine my longing increases.... just to see one more yellow arrow would make my heart soar.. Daily I dream of Castrojeriz, of sitting in St Anton's drinking in the architecture. Walking in the heat with the sound of crickets in my ears and wild flowers by the side of the trail. Pausing in the shade of the poor Clare's convent outside Castrojeriz. Sitting with a warm glass of Rioja in hand looking over the Meseta... I still dream of laughing at table in Villafranca del Bierzo with friends. I still remember my friend Sue proposing to her partner Alan after 25 years together and conducting their wedding blessing on the beach at Finnesterre ... of weeping at Cruz de Ferro as the stress of 25 years left me. Of being wonderfully "relaxed" after drinking too much Gin and Tonic in Barbedello. To walk the streets of Larasonna and to eat Tapas one more time.... oh dear I've got the bug haven't I

 

[Flem]

Know how you feel and what you mean.
When I landed in SdC from SJPdP I looked up on the cathedral and said: NEVER EVER AGAIN.
BUT after comming home I sad: Have to get ther again. Just have to!!!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Been there, done that, even got the tee-shirt!

 

[Danie Penaar]

Returned from the Camino a week ago. At the moment there is no normal for me. Living in South Africa with little time left the Camino made it so clear that we must live in the moment. Whish I could return tomorrow.

 

[Angel-hart]

We've been back for a little more than a month, we (Girlfriend and I) too are changed by our experience. People have asked us "what was the best part of your trip"? I don't answer that easily, but say you will have to go yourself. I have given a few people close to me a shell and told them directly Go!

My girlfriend is quitting her job(retiring), changed by her experience. We are planning another Camino. I didn't speak to many people since we've been back mostly because it is hard for us to put into words. You have done a beautiful job of summarizing your experience.

I believe the end of our Camino experience is a beginning to another, and part of our life. I am a firm believer in walking as a life restorative. The Camino is that on a grand scale.

Thanks for your post.

 

[Alasdair Kay]

"But to have been,
This once, completely, even if only once:
To have been at one with the earth, seems beyond undoing."

Rainer Maria Rilke,
9th Duino Elegy

beautiful thank you

 

[clearskiescamino]

In a word, no!
I walked 110 kms in 2011 and I feel the need to return each year.
I constantly think of the Camino and when I meet someone who has been,the conversation automatically switches to Spain!

 

[MartinZ]

This stanza comes to my mind: 'better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'.
Try to be content by what is given to you, then move on. Even if it means going back.

 

[kerrychick]

So I'm back from the most amazing 38 days ever walking from STJPDP to Finisterre and Muxia .... and life returns to normal. The problem is I've changed, and watching video's of the Camino makes me cry. Bizarrely I long to be awake in an Albergue at 5:30 am packing my rucksack and anticipating walking as dawn rises. I dream of mist over Castrojeriz at dawn, of wind blowing through the corn on the Meseta, dusk at O Ceberio, and the feel of the sea on my bare feet as I walked the last three km's on the beach at Finisterre in the mist. I long to see sunset at Muxia again and the longing hurts ... Is this normal, and can I get back to normal again or will the longing get worse?

Hi Alasdair you are singing my song ...and everything you write i am also weeping.

I have walked the camino alone and with my two sisters ,the memories come flooding back when i watch other pilgrims videos .

My sister has cancer now and will not walk the camino again so the time we had is more precious now.

I will walk the camino in sep,oct please God and i know it will be bitter sweet .

 

[kerrychick]

I know this isn't the sentiment of this forum as a whole, but I think it depends on what your "Normal" life entails. Personally, to a great extent, I was eager to get back to my Normal life. I enjoy my life and with the exception of a few times here and there I always have. It is by no means perfect (as judged by the world) but every day of it has been a blessing and has served purpose. I did want to keep some of the slow pace attitude that came with Camino and indeed I was disappointed about how quickly my American work-life overpowered my desire for to remain quiet. The first few days back at work I struggled to keep pace with my colleagues - information was being delivered and decisions were being made at what seemed like a breakneck pace. It was dizzying. I sat quietly in my office for a few days watching it all with some degree of astonishment. Too soon however, I was back at "full speed". It was a bit sad.

We walked Camino two years ago. And while it was an amazing journey and absolutely worthwhile, I can't say it changed my life nor was it the amazing spiritual or emotional journey that I'd heard so many speak of. With that said, I began to get the itch for another adventure a few months ago and another Camino was right near the top of the list. We are going back again in May2017 and I am excited to reconnect with Camino at an even slower pace this time.

A final thought - what if Camino is normal and your other life is the fabrication? Honestly I think we are more ideal to each other on Camino. Perhaps our sophistication and socialization are the falseness.

Yes i believe so and also the camino is a drug the more you get the more you want.

 

[rappahannock_rev]

I never recovered from my first Camino.

A day does not go by when I do not wish I was buying a doner kabab in Estella, or plucking trail-side grapes in the Bierzo.,,,

Father: I heard recently that there may be some sort of Anglican Welcome Center opening in Santiago..... That would be nice! I'd like to be able to finish a pilgrimage with a proper BCP celebration of Holy Communion!

Yours in His service, JGE+

 

[alexwalker]

So I'm back from the most amazing 38 days ever walking from STJPDP to Finisterre and Muxia .... and life returns to normal. The problem is I've changed, and watching video's of the Camino makes me cry. Bizarrely I long to be awake in an Albergue at 5:30 am packing my rucksack and anticipating walking as dawn rises. I dream of mist over Castrojeriz at dawn, of wind blowing through the corn on the Meseta, dusk at O Ceberio, and the feel of the sea on my bare feet as I walked the last three km's on the beach at Finisterre in the mist. I long to see sunset at Muxia again and the longing hurts ... Is this normal, and can I get back to normal again or will the longing get worse?

Very normal. Will most likely not get better. The solution is: Start planning your next Camino. That will give you some ease of mind, knowing that you will return.

If you have never lost your mind, you have never followed your heart. Your heart has its own reasons, of witch reasons know nothing about.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Be careful that you do not confuse the Camino with real life! Friendships formed under stressful conditions, from POW camps to albergues, often do not endure well when subjected to the daily activites of life. If you enjoyed your time on the Camino, go back. The lack of responsibility for anything except taking the next step will always be there to enjoy again and again. Keep in mind, though, that there are very few permanent pilgrims on the Camino, and most of them are more derelict than useful friends! Buen camino on your next one. I suspect there will be one.