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) |
---|
Buyers remorse can mean you have purchased something and now wish you hadn’t, but you have it still.My wife dropped me off at the airport, left and as I started walking to my flight, I had the buyers remorse full blast, like what am I doing here. I realized I could not turn back, and determined at that moment a prayer thanking God for this opportunity was what I needed. Once I got on the plane I was energized and ready to go.
We had a particularly miserable day about a week in. Got to Estella, totally exhausted and in pain. No hot water at our lodgings. Seriously condidered quiting. The next morning we woke up feeling good and haad one of the nicest days on the Camino. Lesson we learned and applied the rest of the trip and since - Tomorrow is another day. Dont make decisions when you are beat and tired. Wait until the next day. It always seems better.So as I near my Camino in May I can't help but wonder how many of you had that one "What the hell am I doing here?" moment/s or question to yourself? If so, I assume it was short lived and even something you look back on and laugh about now. It just seems it would be hard to walk a partial or definitely the whole Camino without a little diversity or bad situation getting the best of us, if even for a brief moment.
We had a particularly miserable day about a week in. Got to Estella, totally exhausted and in pain. No hot water at our lodgings. Seriously condidered quiting. The next morning we woke up feeling good and haad one of the nicest days on the Camino. Lesson we learned and applied the rest of the trip and since - Tomorrow is another day. Dont make decisions when you are beat and tired. Wait until the next day. It always seems better.
Yes!! Several times before I left and twice while walking. Both times on the Camino I froze on the path, sobbing and asking “WHY?! WHY?!”So as I near my Camino in May I can't help but wonder how many of you had that one "What the hell am I doing here?" moment/s or question to yourself? If so, I assume it was short lived and even something you look back on and laugh about now. It just seems it would be hard to walk a partial or definitely the whole Camino without a little diversity or bad situation getting the best of us, if even for a brief moment.
Beautifully stated.....Although I had walked throughout the summer hiking 20 k up the 1060 meter Ibaneta pass via the Valcarlos route the first time in autumn 2004 at 65 to the monastery at Roncesvalles was certainly the most physically exhausting day of my adult life then to date. I was pooped! Beneath a deep blue sky and brilliant sun I gasped and ached while my pack felt like bricks.
After about 5 hours I finally staggered over the pass into a picnic area filled with a munching mob; they had arrived by bus and cars! Never will I forget the look that one très correct French woman drinking champagne from a crystal flute, no plastic for her, gave me as I trudged past exhausted!
ET would have been better received....Nevertheless eventually I made it to Santiago walking slowly all the way.
Ever since on the following 9 caminios I always walked very easy. Daily distances cited in the guidebooks are not sacred; remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare.
Thus I have eventually sensed that special moment when everything 'clicked' while realizing that it was, indeed, MY way and that all was and would be good. Perhaps such secular transcendence felt while walking might be akin to what runners call 'the zone'. Your body can handle the task while your spirit glows with the effort. Neither easy, nor impossible; all simply is and you resolve to continue!
This 'advice note' from my blog...,So as I near my Camino in May I can't help but wonder how many of you had that one "What the hell am I doing here?" moment/s or question to yourself? If so, I assume it was short lived and even something you look back on and laugh about now. It just seems it would be hard to walk a partial or definitely the whole Camino without a little diversity or bad situation getting the best of us, if even for a brief moment.
I agree. It’s the last 5 kms that are always the hardest.Yes!!! Every town at the top of a hill! Or just 5 more km away!
I hit my stride in Sarria. My walking companion called it my “Novo Camino”.
Oh I think I was one of those pilgrims being blown off my feet crossing the Pyrenees in 9/15 but not on the day you crossed because when I walked the route it was actually closed. I think it must have been the same day that Pamplona got smashed. And before anyone jumps to lecture me I left from Orisson and noone there told us the route was closed. It was heaps too scary to even take the time to think “What the hell am I doing here?”.My Top-10 "What the hell am I doing here moments?" as follows:
1) Arriving at Paris Airport and searched for my bicycle box for 48-hours...it was left at Heathrow Airport.
2) Hill climb to Orrison Albergue...100 F Degrees...100% humidity...100 sunshine...no wind...I collapsed on the road from no water...and every Pilgrim I saw was going the other direction back to SJPdP to get a taxi.
3) Crossing the Pyrenees Mountains in the worst wind storm I have every seen that was throwing Pilgrims to the ground...I kept looking at the grave markers and thinking it must have been a windy day like today.
4) Arriving in Pamplona just as a hurricane hit the city with 50+ MPH winds that was breaking tree limbs and smashing cars with flying debris...the wettest I have every been in my life.
5) Leaving Pamplona only to find 6"-12" mudslides everywhere for the next 40+ km to arrive in Villateurta to find the entire town buried in 12" of mud...it took me 3-hours to remove the mud from my bike and myself.
6) Trying to ignore the rude American Pilgrims at Granon Albergue that would not let me sleep...stayed up late...got up early...played loud music...and opened the giant windows to chill the room to 50 F Degrees.
7) Biking 90+ km from Granon to Burgos...because no hotels, hostals, or albergues would accept a bicigrino.
8) Mistaking a "house of prostitution" for an Albergue in Mansilla de Las Mullas...my wife is still laughing.
9) Leaving Santiago traveling to Finisterre in a light rain storm that only got worse...new record for the wettest I have ever been in my life.
10) Arriving at Finisterre and wondering why I traveled all across Spain just to see a Lighthouse...the next day I traveled to the Muxia Cathedral and my Camino was finally complete.
Other than I still get annoyed by walking in dripping wet rainstorms...no regrets...and it was one of the most memorable travel experiences of my life...and lastly I am doing the Camino del Norte later this year.
I crossed the Pyrenees Mountains in a wind storm on 8/30/15 which will be my first and last time crossing...and I arrived in Pamplona the next day on 8/31/15...I grew up in Florida and I have lived half my life in the Colorado Front Range...I thought I had seen wind and rain before...but nothing like the weather I saw in Northern Spain.Oh I think I was one of those pilgrims being blown off my feet crossing the Pyrenees in 9/15
This doesn’t work on a bike but the trick if walking and blown off your feet is to scoot along on your bum, because believe me you cannot get back on your feet until you get to a slightly more sheltered area or until the gust diminishes. Keep in mind, those gusts last what seems to be forever. Planting poles and standing crouched as low as possible helps but doesn’t always work. The best solution is to link arms with two or preferrably more pilgrims. This will hopefully give you sufficient weight to keep on your feet and you may also be able to walk forward.I crossed the Pyrenees Mountains in a wind storm on 8/30/15 which will be my first and last time crossing...and I arrived in Pamplona the next day on 8/31/15...I grew up in Florida and I have lived half my life in the Colorado Front Range...I thought I had seen wind and rain before...but nothing like the weather I saw in Northern Spain.
I cannot remember any moment when I felt that I wanted to be anywhere else but where I was. Sure I had painful blisters a few times and shinsplints for a few days, but that just required some adjustment of my schedule. Some steep hills left me puffing, but I slowed down.
I cannot think of any moments of despair or "suffering" that caused me to question why I was there, or that are worth thinking much about afterwards.
I’m going to Italy this summer...alone. Scared to death...again. I have my ticket and hotels booked but keep asking myself, “What are you thinking?! Who do you think you are traipsing off all alone to Europe!?”
Scary fun but oh I wish. What a wonderful opportunity?!!I felt exactly the same way, minus the blisters.
The only time I had a fleeting thought of "what am I doing?" was last year. My friend from home only had 10 days to walk, and left me in Logroño. For my first half hour or so, I questioned why I was walking the same route that I had walked the year before. I decided that if I wasn't enjoying the Frances by the time that I got to Burgos, I would take a train to Porto and do the Portuguese route. However, I never wanted to not be on the Camino!
I'm in that position right now, as I prepare to leave next week for 7 weeks in Guatemala, where I'll be studying Spanish while living with a Guatemalan family! I've never been in an underdeveloped country, and I'm a bit nervous about safety, both food and water, and physical.
holistically, your physical condition is bound to affect your mood and vice versa
It’s amazing how the body follows where the mind leads it. I too allowed my negative thoughts to drag down my physically prepared body as I climbed up the Pyrenees on Day 1. As I mentioned above, I decided to remove the negativity that was trying to consume me and that allowed me to fully enjoy my Camino. As it turned out, a life lesson from the Way!This. I've had days when grey skies and relentless rain affected my mood so much, that my body responded by developing pains and aches. When I finally managed to get a grip on my sulk and get a bloody move on, those pains would magically disappear.
So as I near my Camino in May I can't help but wonder how many of you had that one "What the hell am I doing here?" moment/s or question to yourself? If so, I assume it was short lived and even something you look back on and laugh about now. It just seems it would be hard to walk a partial or definitely the whole Camino without a little diversity or bad situation getting the best of us, if even for a brief moment.
“And the day came when the risk to stay tight in the bud was more painful than the risk to blossom.”
Buen Camino!
Yes Brian, I too had a moment on both the Norte (2016) and Portuguese (2017) that had me asking that exact question. Somehow made it through, the arrival at an Albergue when other pilgrims welcome you gave me the renewed strength to carry on. There's a stage on the Norte that terrain difficulty is 5 and no place to stop and eat so you have to pack food in your pack...single hardest day of my life!So as I near my Camino in May I can't help but wonder how many of you had that one "What the hell am I doing here?" moment/s or question to yourself? If so, I assume it was short lived and even something you look back on and laugh about now. It just seems it would be hard to walk a partial or definitely the whole Camino without a little diversity or bad situation getting the best of us, if even for a brief moment.
I’m also off in May, leaving St Jean on the 7thSo as I near my Camino in May I can't help but wonder how many of you had that one "What the hell am I doing here?" moment/s or question to yourself? If so, I assume it was short lived and even something you look back on and laugh about now. It just seems it would be hard to walk a partial or definitely the whole Camino without a little diversity or bad situation getting the best of us, if even for a brief moment.
I’m gearing up for my fifth Camino later this year, and my answer to anyone who asks “how was it” has always been the same: I might not enjoy every minute, but I absolutely love every day of it.So as I near my Camino in May I can't help but wonder how many of you had that one "What the hell am I doing here?" moment/s or question to yourself? If so, I assume it was short lived and even something you look back on and laugh about now. It just seems it would be hard to walk a partial or definitely the whole Camino without a little diversity or bad situation getting the best of us, if even for a brief moment.
My hat is off to all those who have walked and truly suffered, but have marched on. And my sympathy to those whose Caminos were cut short in dissappointment due to injury, extreme pain or family crisis back home.!
I agree. It’s the last 5 kms that are always the hardest.
But yay for you because there are some long dusty hills after Sarria.
I love that feeling of being able to just throw on the backpack without even noticing the weight and striding out feeling like I could walk forever. There is nothing better than getting to the top of a hill and instead of being exhausted and relieved just being surprised to have already reached the top.
My one despairing moment was a couple days after I suffered an injury that I am still dealing with 1 1/2 years later. It happened on the third day. The Pyrenees were behind and Pamplona was yet to rise on the horizon.So as I near my Camino in May I can't help but wonder how many of you had that one "What the hell am I doing here?" moment/s or question to yourself? If so, I assume it was short lived and even something you look back on and laugh about now. It just seems it would be hard to walk a partial or definitely the whole Camino without a little diversity or bad situation getting the best of us, if even for a brief moment.
So as I near my Camino in May I can't help but wonder how many of you had that one "What the hell am I doing here?" moment/s or question to yourself? If so, I assume it was short lived and even something you look back on and laugh about now. It just seems it would be hard to walk a partial or definitely the whole Camino without a little diversity or bad situation getting the best of us, if even for a brief moment.
It is so interesting to note how different we all are. One of my very favorite areas on the camino was exactly that part on the way to Acebo! I went through that section in May with beautiful wild flowers everywhere in purple, pink, yellow and white, and the mountains off to the left were gorgeous! And I happen to be one who loves the downhills, rocks and all!I have not had a what am I doing here moment. Even in the odd bad patch I know how lucky I am to be walking a camino
I have had I hate this at the moment periods, particularly the horrid rocky down hill to El AceboI will be back there in probably a month or so I may try the road this time.
I’m going to try this for the remainder of the summer, as I struggle with “I don’t deserve respite or rebuilding of my body and mind when others I love need me and cannot travel.” I’m going to look for my happy place feelings that are attached to the one waiting for me nearish to Burgos, and focus on a joyful return to my beloveds here who do want me to have an adventure of my own. In other words, I’m going to run to beckon that better feeling.Yup... how one feels is like the weather: if you don't like how you feel, just wait a while until a feeling that you do like comes along
So as I near my Camino in May I can't help but wonder how many of you had that one "What the hell am I doing here?" moment/s or question to yourself? If so, I assume it was short lived and even something you look back on and laugh about now. It just seems it would be hard to walk a partial or definitely the whole Camino without a little diversity or bad situation getting the best of us, if even for a brief moment.
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?