What now....

[Hedwig]

Dear All,

On the 4th of May I arrived in Santiago, ending my Camino.
I had a wonderful time and it was the biggest achievement I have ever done. I felt so proud and happy.
Now being home for 6 weeks I am having a lot of trouble giving this Camino a place in my life. The contact with walkingcompanions is so different here.
I just want to close my eyes and go back with them. But afcourse that is not an option. So how to deal with this now? I hope somebody can help me with this....
Any suggestions or similar experiences?

 

[Anniesantiago]

You ask, "What now?"

Well, for myself, "Now" is the time I'd begin planning my next Camino!
That seems to be the way it goes... :lol:

People continually ask me, "Why can't you just walk here in Portland?"
There is no way of explaining to them that it is just not the same as getting up each day and walking 6 to 8 hours, day after day after day...

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Now being home for 6 weeks I am having a lot of trouble giving this Camino a place in my life. The contact with walkingcompanions is so different here.
I just want to close my eyes and go back with them. But afcourse that is not an option. So how to deal with this now? I hope somebody can help me with this....
Any suggestions or similar experiences?

Hedwig,
I had a similar experience coming home, and I imagine it isn't unusual. On that long walk there is a chance to think about life, and how you might change things when you get home, but I know when I got home things seemed just the same, so I felt a bit 'down' for a while. But once I had got past that, I realised that in fact the Camino had somehow seeped deep within me. I knew what I treasured about life, and gradually, slowly, I made changes, I simplified things, I gave things away if I didn't use them, I followed some of my interests more passionately... I know that some people see me now as a bit of a 'free spirit'- and I think that is largely because I know what is important to me, and I am not afraid to be a little different, and pursue some of those things.
So I guess my answer is that maybe the Camino already has a place in your life, and it will seep deeper over time... All the best, Margaret

 

[Canuck]

So how to deal with this now? I hope somebody can help me with this....
Any suggestions or similar experiences?

Sorry Hedwig,

I can't help you, being too busy preparing my 14th camino(or is it 15th or 16th. Who's counting?). :twisted:
Leaving on 2nd of August to walk in Tchek Republic, Germany and France.
Will be back at the beginning of October.

That's the only cure I found for the same bug that's hitting you.

Cheers,
Jean-Marc

 

[Hedwig]

Thanks very much you all,

I think if I am going to plan my next Camino my husband will get a fitt!
He already suffers from Camino Fatigues.
I am more concerned how to relate to the people I have met. I have the urge to want to talk to them every week. And afcourse that is not possible....
As far as walking I will begin tomorrow with A Catholic Procession, 42km saturday and walking back sunday 42km.

 

[LTfit]

Hi Helwig,

First of all congradulations on your accomplishment!

I was just about to post when I saw your answer. Unfortunately I was going to respond as Annie and Canuck as I also dealt with the post-camino "blues" last summer by planning my next Camino. I in fact leave for the VdlP in 3 weeks! It will be my second and so have no idea if my addiction will reach Canuck's proportions haha!

Should you every want to talk to someone feel free to call or PM me. We weren't on the Camino together but share the experience. And if you ever want to walk in the dunes in Zuid-Holland feel
free to contact me.

Un abrazo fuerte,
LT

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Hedwig, I just read this quote on Andy's blog, http://pilgrimpace.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/change-and-response/ and perhaps you will find it useful.
Margaret

“Every significant journey changes us in some way. We are hardly ever aware of this while we are in the midst of it. We may have hints and glimpses of these changes but it is only later, in looking back that we gasp in amazement at what was being formed and shaped in our lives. Only then do we recognize how a new attitude, a stronger dedication, and a fuller passion stretched us into the fullness of life. Then we are able to identify the journey’s ability to propel us into unexpected growth.
- Joyce Rupp Walk in a Relaxed Manner

 

[andy.d]

Thanks for the quote Margaret. When I was getting to the end of the Camino, a very wise friend texted me to say that "the benefits of the pilgrimage will become apparent over the next few decades". Let things take their time Hedwig,

Andy

 

[anniethenurse]

Dear All,

On the 4th of May I arrived in Santiago, ending my Camino.
I had a wonderful time and it was the biggest achievement I have ever done. I felt so proud and happy.
Now being home for 6 weeks I am having a lot of trouble giving this Camino a place in my life. The contact with walkingcompanions is so different here.
I just want to close my eyes and go back with them. But afcourse that is not an option. So how to deal with this now? I hope somebody can help me with this....
Any suggestions or similar experiences?

Congratulations Hedwig!
The community that builds up and that comes and goes and has so many different kinds of people is really amazing. The very special companionship between the pilgrims is AMAZING. But once the walking is over and you are at home again you can never get the SAME feeling back. Even if you would travel to Santiago now it would not be the same because the pilgrims YOU met on your camino are NOT there. And after finishing the pilgrimage we promise the we will keep in touch but we won`t do it because it is not the same anymore. I watch Santiago through the webcams http://www.crtvg.es/camweb/index.asp?id=9&mn=COR sometimes and see the pilgrims walk to the Obradoiro - I can understand how they feel, they are kneeling down and taking pics, hugging each other and I can feel they are very happy after doing all that walking! And then they walk to the Pilgrim`s Office to get their compostelas, find a place to stay feeling that their legs do not want to stop walking yet! Just like I did (except that I felt I had done my walking this time and just wanted to hang around Santiago for a while).!
I chat with some of the pilgrims I met on my camino on the FB and I still e-mail with two or three pilgrims from different countries from each camino. And on FB we can see each other`s camino pics. Maybe next year some of us meet again walking the camino - we have planned to do so but nothing is sure yet.
When I was in Dublin in February this year I met one of the Forum members living in Dublin Nellpilgrim! It was the first time we met IRL and I felt that we had known each other for years (so did she!). Thanks Nell you took some time to meet me! And this week I was in Brussells for one night and me and SabineP were planning for a beer (we could not arrange a meeting now but maybe next time or maybe on camino sometimes). - So Hedwig that´s what the Forum is here for - to understand you and your feelings!
I finished my camino this year only a couple of days before you (April 29) and we could have met in Santiago - I spent 6 days there - left home May 6.
Maybe see you somewhere someday...
annie

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Well, you can read about others who did it!!

http://www.southcountytimes.com/Article ... thday.html

 

[robertt]

You've all got me thinking. I'm in the post-Camino phase right now.

The main thing I'm noticing is the trim-down urge. I'm discarding and giving away stuff: all kinds of stuff. It's not an anti-consumerist thing: it's an anti-too-much-stuff thing.

I'm jogging daily around my acres to prepare for the next Camino, which doesn't seem a possibility if I think too long about the practicalities. So I avoid thinking about them.

Meanwhile, please nobody sell or give me anything that's not edible. I just don't want any more stuff!

 

[KiwiNomad06]

The main thing I'm noticing is the trim-down urge. I'm discarding and giving away stuff: all kinds of stuff. It's not an anti-consumerist thing: it's an anti-too-much-stuff thing.

Yep, definitely been there done that post Camino... poco a poco....
Margaret

 

[Anniesantiago]

Oh my gosh, Robert, I SO understand the "get rid of all the excess" phase!
I'm still in it!
I am now living in a 10 x 17 room with no running water and am perfectly happy.
I look around at what I have here, and feel "It's too much!"
I constantly seem to attract more things, so I'm constantly getting rid of things.
It's amazing how little one needs to be happy, huh?
GREAT lesson from the Camino!

 

[jennysa]

A friend sent me an article entitled 'Post Camino Blues'. I have all the symptoms : '

many people report feeling sad, alone and down after their Camino experience. The initial return to daily life brings a certain excitement and an eagerness to share the experience with others. When the pictures are developed there is another wave of outpouring of Camino excitement and for some, the opportunity to give a talk or write an article. But then slowly it begins to dawn that the Camino is over. That carefree existence, where one’s greatest pain was a foot blister and among one’s greatest delights was photographing a snail crossing the road, is over.

Now we have to deal with all the usual problems - and our loved ones soon tire of hearing our stories. Although we pilgrims console one another with the agreed-upon wisdom that the ‘Camino never ends - it continues in daily life’, deep down we know that something has ended. Feelings of loss, longing and emptiness begin to surface. Does this strike a chord with you? You could be suffering from the post-Camino blues.[/i]

Identifying with it doesn't make it any easier. I will never see my very special friends that I made on the Camino and with whom I shared my journey, and that creates a huge sense of loss. On the positive side, I do not think that anything will ever be able stress me again. Things that were important to me before, now just dont matter.

 

[nellpilgrim]

Reflecting on questions like this and reading all the varied responses helped and as time passed it became clear that for me, a little (a very little!) like Jean-Marc, the 'problem' was the only solution- and how bad is that . Though the cadence of my journeys are changing:- routes getting longer and/or less traveled, walking solo, walking at my pace and knowing what that is (SLOW!), breaking off trail/forging my own route or a version of it. Not getting too het up if I don't get as far as I thought I would- knowing the way will still be there waiting for me the next time.
In the meantime meeting up with new/old (well thats what it felt like) friends like Anniethenurse from the forum, sharing the stories and experiences of other pilgrims- call them vicarious Caminos if you like-will just have to suffice until..... it's time for me to walk again.

 

[Hedwig]

Thank you all very much! All these responses are, I think, based on the same feeling.
The feeling that you have to let go. But like we all know the Camino stays with us from now on.

I definitely feel better! Thanks to you all!

 

[annelise]

Hedwig, I share your feelings. When I returned (beginning of June), I felt great difficulty in settling into normal – not helped along, of course, by a bug which has more or less left me prostrate until now.

I had, however, just enough energy to scour the internet daily. I believe that by now I have read every blog ever produced about camino experiences, all videos – even almost to saturation point, but I am still continuing my research for new blogs with new 'words' when searching. I also found some good blogs when searching with the words 'camino blues'. So I would think that the blues may be a common phenomenon. Every night I still have camino dreams – walking – when I wake up, I know that this was an enjoyable and pleasurable dream although unfortunately I never remember the details.

Today, when finally I got around to taking the vacuum cleaner out, I caught myself thinking when going over a particular room: this room is just like the Meseta – maybe a bit boring, but you need to do it anyway! (I should say here that I enjoyed the Meseta! – but not cleaning, though!).

I just cannot let the camino go! (probably never will).