The Camino Obsession

[Sarah80]

Hello All,

I was encouraged onto my first camino by many of you back in July where an opportune window presented itself (redundancy!) for me to take my first Camino, even though it meant being in Pamplona for San Fermin and enduring a frightfully hot early August slog over the Meseta. I regret nothing of the decision. The camino has been calling me for years and before going I had digested every shred of documentation of the Way from videos to books. On the last days of the Camino, mainly a little disturbed by the change of pace/atmosphere from Sarria, I thought I was "done" with my obsession but with only 6 weeks back at home I still feel called to walk. I'm reading up on the camino again, checking these forums, even formulating plans to do a spring Camino (half seriously, half daydreaming).

The Camino feels like the only thing that has truly meant sense in my life, walking the Camino is the most peaceful, natural and lifted state I have felt and even though my life is pretty full, I have a new puppy, a new relationship, I'm starting a business, everything else feels like "extras" or "noise" with no base, no backdrop, the camino gave me a really solid grounding in happiness while walking on it that has vanished back at home. Some lessons have stuck, but mostly I am not living the lessons that came so naturally on the Camino, basic stuff like taking care of your body, guarding against tiredness and judgement, the basic stuff that fills you with wellness.

Taking care of your body for the next days walk, following arrows, knowing a good (well!) meal and a clean (ish) bed lies at the end of your day, it was such an easy life in many ways. You really felt like you deserved that Pilgrim menu after a 30k+ walk, back at home, everything comes without really having to earn it?

Does this resonate with anyone! I realise it comes across as the whinging of a pampered Generation X'er, I guess the question is, how have you taken the soul lifting baseline of wellness (if you got it!) from the Camino and transplanted that into your everyday life?

Or maybe I just missed the lesson entirely, and need to repeat the class (Here's hoping!). Is a Camino obsession normal? Can be it sated?

 

[mspath]

Sarah80,

For some of us the love of walking the camino never ends!
Read what other veteran pilgrims and I have written re that special longing in this earlier Forum thread.
Ultreia!

MM

 

[scruffy1]

Heraclitus of Ephesos observing the movement of the water said "You cannot step twice into the same river". You have experienced something which you cannot repeat, you can only continue a Camino.

 

[Arminius]

Heraclitus of Ephesos observing the movement of the water said "You cannot step twice into the same river". You have experienced something which you cannot repeat, you can only continue a Camino.

Lovely phrase of Camino Philosophy.

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

Heraclitus of Ephesos observing the movement of the water said "You cannot step twice into the same river". You have experienced something which you cannot repeat, you can only continue a Camino.

For it is not the same river
And you are not the same man

So true

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Hello All,

I was encouraged onto my first camino by many of you back in July where an opportune window presented itself (redundancy!) for me to take my first Camino, even though it meant being in Pamplona for San Fermin and enduring a frightfully hot early August slog over the Meseta. I regret nothing of the decision. The camino has been calling me for years and before going I had digested every shred of documentation of the Way from videos to books. On the last days of the Camino, mainly a little disturbed by the change of pace/atmosphere from Sarria, I thought I was "done" with my obsession but with only 6 weeks back at home I still feel called to walk. I'm reading up on the camino again, checking these forums, even formulating plans to do a spring Camino (half seriously, half daydreaming).

The Camino feels like the only thing that has truly meant sense in my life, walking the Camino is the most peaceful, natural and lifted state I have felt and even though my life is pretty full, I have a new puppy, a new relationship, I'm starting a business, everything else feels like "extras" or "noise" with no base, no backdrop, the camino gave me a really solid grounding in happiness while walking on it that has vanished back at home. Some lessons have stuck, but mostly I am not living the lessons that came so naturally on the Camino, basic stuff like taking care of your body, guarding against tiredness and judgement, the basic stuff that fills you with wellness.

Taking care of your body for the next days walk, following arrows, knowing a good (well!) meal and a clean (ish) bed lies at the end of your day, it was such an easy life in many ways. You really felt like you deserved that Pilgrim menu after a 30k+ walk, back at home, everything comes without really having to earn it?

Does this resonate with anyone! I realise it comes across as the whinging of a pampered Generation X'er, I guess the question is, how have you taken the soul lifting baseline of wellness (if you got it!) from the Camino and transplanted that into your everyday life?

Or maybe I just missed the lesson entirely, and need to repeat the class (Here's hoping!). Is a Camino obsession normal? Can be it sated?

Hi Sarah, for some of us walking " a " Camino never ends. Every year for the coming years I will walk alone and also with my wife a different Camino.
Wish you well, Peter.

 

[Sheilajg]

Yes, what you say makes sense to me. At about the 2/3 point during my Camino in the spring of this year, I thought that I would never want to do it again. I realized that the privilege of walking every day to get to the next meal and bed was just that, a privilege. Now that I have been home awhile, my appreciation of the simplicity of each day is a big part of what draws me back to the Camino. There are other draws of course, including the beautiful scenery, the wonderful Camino community and SPAIN but that simplicity of life is pretty great. I believe that I am likely to come back and walk a Camino again in the future but I am trying to keep the Camino in my daily life by enjoying my local area, walks and scenery and by enjoying and appreciating my home community. But still the Camino draws me in.....How lucky are we to live in a life and world where we can do this? I'm grateful.

 

[Annette london]

Hello All,

I was encouraged onto my first camino by many of you back in July where an opportune window presented itself (redundancy!) for me to take my first Camino, even though it meant being in Pamplona for San Fermin and enduring a frightfully hot early August slog over the Meseta. I regret nothing of the decision. The camino has been calling me for years and before going I had digested every shred of documentation of the Way from videos to books. On the last days of the Camino, mainly a little disturbed by the change of pace/atmosphere from Sarria, I thought I was "done" with my obsession but with only 6 weeks back at home I still feel called to walk. I'm reading up on the camino again, checking these forums, even formulating plans to do a spring Camino (half seriously, half daydreaming).

The Camino feels like the only thing that has truly meant sense in my life, walking the Camino is the most peaceful, natural and lifted state I have felt and even though my life is pretty full, I have a new puppy, a new relationship, I'm starting a business, everything else feels like "extras" or "noise" with no base, no backdrop, the camino gave me a really solid grounding in happiness while walking on it that has vanished back at home. Some lessons have stuck, but mostly I am not living the lessons that came so naturally on the Camino, basic stuff like taking care of your body, guarding against tiredness and judgement, the basic stuff that fills you with wellness.

Taking care of your body for the next days walk, following arrows, knowing a good (well!) meal and a clean (ish) bed lies at the end of your day, it was such an easy life in many ways. You really felt like you deserved that Pilgrim menu after a 30k+ walk, back at home, everything comes without really having to earn it?

Does this resonate with anyone! I realise it comes across as the whinging of a pampered Generation X'er, I guess the question is, how have you taken the soul lifting baseline of wellness (if you got it!) from the Camino and transplanted that into your everyday life?

Or maybe I just missed the lesson entirely, and need to repeat the class (Here's hoping!). Is a Camino obsession normal? Can be it sated?

I know exactly what you mean. We first walked the Camino France's in 2005 and in between then and now a few others, but the "pull" of the CF lingered so off we went again this year. We thought however that we could never again have that experience of 2005. How wrong we were! In fact it was better the second time around. Not sure why but maybe it was that we were 5 years older and more "aware" of the Camino. We did not rush this time ( so full of excitement and adrenaline in 2005) and met such wonderful people. The pull to walk it again is still there so maybe next year!! We walk and trek a lot all over the place but nothing compares to the CF. Why not check out the thread "post Camino withdrawl symptoms"
With regard to the wellness of the body,I was delighted to lose weight and told everyone along the way that I was only walking it to lose weight. Partly true!!! Back home it's crept up a bit but that's ok. I know it's hard to settle back into the"real world " again with the responsibilities that life brings,because let's face it we don't have those responsibilities whilst on the Camino --- only ourselves, and getting from A to B. You will start to feel better but it takes time and there's always another Camino to look foreward to. Keep the chin up! Best wishes annette

 

[VNwalking]

On the Camino, I'm in my body and here, now, as completely as possible. Of course not always...but a lot. You have to be.
So for me it's a form of meditation, and a month on the Camino is a lot like a retreat--but even 'jucier' than a solitary one because I get to look at all the ways I react to my fellow human beings! And work with that.
And we peregrina/os all do connect. As human beings...not much as who we are in the world, how much money we make, what clothes we wear or neighborhoods/houses we live in. Politics, age, race, gender...it doesn't matter much either. Conversations get real and heartfelt very quickly, without all that stuff getting in the way.
Yes...addicted...but what a wonderful thing to be addicted to!

 

[Seabird]

So many have written about the continuing need to walk the Camino again (and again). But could you speak to how you adapted to being back home? How about your loved ones? What difficulties did they face in adapting to you post-Camino? When my husband came home after 19 months in Iraq, nothing seemed as real, as relevant, as vital as what he did in Iraq. It took a long time to sort out. What has been your experience?

 

[aerdna]

Agree! I first heard of the Camino in the early 2000s and wanted to walk ever since. Had an opportunity to join a church group for the Camino Ingles in 2013 and then after daydreaming and half planning throughout that winter, found myself jobless and with a free plane ticket, so I walked Oct/Nov 2014. I am satiated for now, knowing that when it is time for another Camino, the opportunity will be there.

For me (as a fellow Gen Xer), the Camino gave me a sense of purpose beyond myself and beyond the mundane of my 'normal' life. As a Catholic, I walked in for religious purposes, taking with me the intentions of friends and colleagues as I offered up my days and steps in prayer for those who needed it. How much simple can life be, and with such a singular purpose as to wake up each day only needing to walk and pray? Learning to see God and His love in the surrounding beauty of the scenery and, more important, in the beauty of all the people I encountered. It was tough, challenging, beautiful, exhilarating, all in one. It spoke to my greater need to have purpose and meaning in my daily life. And it is a hard lesson to learn - how to continue that when there are other distractions (job, bills, taking care of a house, laundry, etc) vying for my attention. Not to mention the fact that there are no yellow arrows coming at just the right moment to tell me where to go next!

So, no solution, except that I do try to focus on the gratitude I have for each day I spent on the Camino and translate that into gratitude for those I meet and walk with on the greater camino of life.

Hello All,

I was encouraged onto my first camino by many of you back in July where an opportune window presented itself (redundancy!) for me to take my first Camino, even though it meant being in Pamplona for San Fermin and enduring a frightfully hot early August slog over the Meseta. I regret nothing of the decision. The camino has been calling me for years and before going I had digested every shred of documentation of the Way from videos to books. On the last days of the Camino, mainly a little disturbed by the change of pace/atmosphere from Sarria, I thought I was "done" with my obsession but with only 6 weeks back at home I still feel called to walk. I'm reading up on the camino again, checking these forums, even formulating plans to do a spring Camino (half seriously, half daydreaming).

The Camino feels like the only thing that has truly meant sense in my life, walking the Camino is the most peaceful, natural and lifted state I have felt and even though my life is pretty full, I have a new puppy, a new relationship, I'm starting a business, everything else feels like "extras" or "noise" with no base, no backdrop, the camino gave me a really solid grounding in happiness while walking on it that has vanished back at home. Some lessons have stuck, but mostly I am not living the lessons that came so naturally on the Camino, basic stuff like taking care of your body, guarding against tiredness and judgement, the basic stuff that fills you with wellness.

Taking care of your body for the next days walk, following arrows, knowing a good (well!) meal and a clean (ish) bed lies at the end of your day, it was such an easy life in many ways. You really felt like you deserved that Pilgrim menu after a 30k+ walk, back at home, everything comes without really having to earn it?

Does this resonate with anyone! I realise it comes across as the whinging of a pampered Generation X'er, I guess the question is, how have you taken the soul lifting baseline of wellness (if you got it!) from the Camino and transplanted that into your everyday life?

Or maybe I just missed the lesson entirely, and need to repeat the class (Here's hoping!). Is a Camino obsession normal? Can be it sated?

 

[DurhamParish]

Hi Sarah, I find it funny (in a ha ha kind of way) that you used the word "obsession". Next month I will be giving a talk on the Camino in the Library in my home town in Florida. I am currently writing what I will be saying, and the first sentence that I wrote is: "Hi, I have been asked to come and talk to you today about my current obsession, the Camino de Santiago."

It has become an obsession. This year I was fortunate enough to walk on the Camino twice, once in April and another in June. I wondered if two trips so close together would finally sate my thirst for the Camino? Just the opposite. Late at night trying to go to sleep, I find myself planning in my mind another trip on the CF, staying at places that I remembered, places that I wish I had stayed, and places that I've read people recommend on this forum.

And I find myself on this forum nearly 2 or 3 times almost every day.

"Hi, my name is Carl, and I'm a Caminoholic."

 

[Sarah80]

Agree! I first heard of the Camino in the early 2000s and wanted to walk ever since. Had an opportunity to join a church group for the Camino Ingles in 2013 and then after daydreaming and half planning throughout that winter, found myself jobless and with a free plane ticket, so I walked Oct/Nov 2014. I am satiated for now, knowing that when it is time for another Camino, the opportunity will be there.

For me (as a fellow Gen Xer), the Camino gave me a sense of purpose beyond myself and beyond the mundane of my 'normal' life. As a Catholic, I walked in for religious purposes, taking with me the intentions of friends and colleagues as I offered up my days and steps in prayer for those who needed it. How much simple can life be, and with such a singular purpose as to wake up each day only needing to walk and pray? Learning to see God and His love in the surrounding beauty of the scenery and, more important, in the beauty of all the people I encountered. It was tough, challenging, beautiful, exhilarating, all in one. It spoke to my greater need to have purpose and meaning in my daily life. And it is a hard lesson to learn - how to continue that when there are other distractions (job, bills, taking care of a house, laundry, etc) vying for my attention. Not to mention the fact that there are no yellow arrows coming at just the right moment to tell me where to go next!

So, no solution, except that I do try to focus on the gratitude I have for each day I spent on the Camino and translate that into gratitude for those I meet and walk with on the greater camino of life.

You described my feelings exactly! A sense of purpose beyond myself, quite right, I was absolutely sick of myself by the time the camino came around!

Thanks to all for your responses, it's nice to know the camino goes on, but bringing it into my everyday life is something I need to practise, that peace I felt, I'd love to have it hear and build a life upon it. I can't describe well, but the backdrop of the camino felt like a 'safe place' or a foundation, I truly never felt more like what I was doing was 'what I should be doing' that on camino.

To the question: How did my friends and family adapt: I live in Barcelona and my partner joined me for the second half of the camino anyway so no worries there. My parents and siblings, I don't go into the camino too much with them because I feel terrible for them that they can't/won't go do something like it. My family are fairly sedentary and they see the camino as a huge deal, something they could 'never do'. They were were scared for me to do it! Talking about it feels like dangling carrots! Even friends, They ask me about it, but I don't feel like going into depth, it was so personal, I just talk about the distances or the food, never the interpersonal relationships or emotions.

 

[KSM]

I understand completely what you wrote. The Camino is always on my mind. (I just walked it a few months ago) I wonder what the attraction.... Obsession ... Is with the Camino. Like you I struggle to bring that sense of peace from the Camino into day to day life. What is it that makes the experience so amazing. I talk about the Camino with friends, but like others on here, it's mostly only talking about the distances and food, and less details about the spiritual journey I had. I haven't really even shared my photos. All I want to do is to talk about it but at the same time to not. It's hard to explain the Camino unless you've lived it. And although I want to talk about it.... In the same boat I can't be bothered to explain how I feel to them.
Anyway...I could talk forever of the Camino, with this that understand. Also would love to know others secrets in your questions. Adjustment in coming home. And keeping the Camino with us. I don't believe going back will fix it. I've never done it a second time but will one day. But only when I know I can truly go without expectations ... Ready to experience the Camino and what it has for me the second time. And who knows maybe I'll never get to that point.
I know what I wrote isn't of much help, but hopefully to know your not the only one to feel this way, and although maybe our friends and family may not completely ever understand.... There are people out there that do.
If you figure out a way that works for you! Please share with me!
Good luck!
Kate

 

[kiwiDavid]

"it's hard to settle back into the"real world " again with the responsibilities that life brings,because let's face it we don't have those responsibilities whilst on the Camino ---only ourselves, and getting from A to B."
This rings the bell for me Annette - a truism and an insight.Our steps are light on the Camino because of it - a chance to look from the outside in or just to take a walk - or both.

 

[mountaingoat999]

So many have written about the continuing need to walk the Camino again (and again). But could you speak to how you adapted to being back home? How about your loved ones? What difficulties did they face in adapting to you post-Camino? When my husband came home after 19 months in Iraq, nothing seemed as real, as relevant, as vital as what he did in Iraq. It took a long time to sort out. What has been your experience?

seabird
hello
I served for 30 long years, I was haunted just before accidentally ending up on my first camino, served first gulf war....and many before that......I survived back home for three days on discharge. unfit to command ....on the camino I live...and I change.........many service personnel suffer in silence coming back home...they don't talk.

I came across a poppy field on my first camnio and fell to my knees, the wall had to come down, being up against it was not working anymore......I can never stop walking the camino .........reaching out to help others.. to enable others along the way ,we can also help ourselves.....I hope your husband comes on camino ...its good to walk ,its good to talk

it took a lot of miles for me I start my 19th camino JAN 2016 (many back to back).....I started May 2012.....I like walking and I like listening,...next year I am on camino nearly all of the whole year....when people ask me why so many caminos (I don't count the fisterra ones).... I say why not..

Thank you

 

[Annette london]

seabird
hello
I served for 30 long years, I was haunted just before accidentally ending up on my first camino, served first gulf war....and many before that......I survived back home for three days on discharge. unfit to command ....on the camino I live...and I change.........many service personnel suffer in silence coming back home...they don't talk.

I came across a poppy field on my first camnio and fell to my knees, the wall had to come down, being up against it was not working anymore......I can never stop walking the camino .........reaching out to help others.. to enable others along the way ,we can also help ourselves.....I hope your husband comes on camino ...its good to walk ,its good to talk

it took a lot of miles for me I start my 19th camino JAN 2016 (many back to back).....I started May 2012.....I like walking and I like listening,...next year I am on camino nearly all of the whole year....when people ask me why so many caminos (I don't count the fisterra ones).... I say why not..

Thank you

So sorry to hear of your suffering and so happy that the Camino brings you peace. Walking for whatever reason is very therapeutic. Keep enjoying the way. Best wishes.

 

[Seabird]

seabird
hello
I served for 30 long years, I was haunted just before accidentally ending up on my first camino, served first gulf war....and many before that......I survived back home for three days on discharge. unfit to command ....on the camino I live...and I change.........many service personnel suffer in silence coming back home...they don't talk.

I came across a poppy field on my first camnio and fell to my knees, the wall had to come down, being up against it was not working anymore......I can never stop walking the camino .........reaching out to help others.. to enable others along the way ,we can also help ourselves.....I hope your husband comes on camino ...its good to walk ,its good to talk

it took a lot of miles for me I start my 19th camino JAN 2016 (many back to back).....I started May 2012.....I like walking and I like listening,...next year I am on camino nearly all of the whole year....when people ask me why so many caminos (I don't count the fisterra ones).... I say why not..

Thank you

Mountaingoat999, thank you for sharing your experience. I can only glimpse it through my husband's experience, but I know the toll it can take. May the camino continue to fill your heart and mind with love, peace, and forgiveness, for yourself and those in your life.

 

[Seabird]

seabird
I hope your husband comes on camino ...its good to walk ,its good to talk

He will join me in Santiago, and we will walk to Finesterre/Muxia together. I hope it will help us reconnect after my journey.

 

[Johnboy Caminoista]

Heraclitus of Ephesos observing the movement of the water said "You cannot step twice into the same river". You have experienced something which you cannot repeat, you can only continue a Camino.

Yes, and you are never the same again. You have a new peace.