Why I Did Not Use an iPod on the Camino

[stevelm1]

Before leaving for my first Camino I found that a lot of music made me cry. Mostly when I was watching You Tubes about the Camino but also when I was listening to music while drives and at other completely unexpected times as I was talking about the trail I would start crying. This was weird to say the least, it was perhaps wonderful from another perspective, I guess.

I am a trained engineer by trade, I am a scientist by perspective and that is the perspective I would prefer others to see me by, but I was a compete cry baby when it came to some music, and it was extremely unpredictable.

I could only imagine myself walking down the Camino crying all day while listing to music. For what I would expect are fairly obvious reasons I did not want to be walking and crying all day long.

It is also clever to listen to your surroundings if for no other reason than to be present in the moment.

I am somewhat happy to say that after coming home the unpredictable emotional outbursts almost disappeared (two years out). Interestingly, as I am working up to my next Camino I have noticed it starting up again. I am still not sure why this walk makes me so emotional, but it sure does.

 

[CaminoDebrita]

Before leaving for my first Camino I found that a lot of music made me cry. Mostly when I was watching You Tubes about the Camino but also when I was listening to music while drives and at other completely unexpected times as I was talking about the trail I would start crying. This was weird to say the least, it was perhaps wonderful from another perspective, I guess.

I am a trained engineer by trade, I am a scientist by perspective and that is the perspective I would prefer others to see me by, but I was a compete cry baby when it came to some music, and it was extremely unpredictable.

I could only imagine myself walking down the Camino crying all day while listing to music. For what I would expect are fairly obvious reasons I did not want to be walking and crying all day long.

It is also clever to listen to your surroundings if for no other reason than to be present in the moment.

I am somewhat happy to say that after coming home the unpredictable emotional outbursts almost disappeared (two years out). Interestingly, as I am working up to my next Camino I have noticed it starting up again. I am still not sure why this walk makes me so emotional, but it sure does.

I am glad that you shared this about yourself, and I am sure that many of us have similarly deep feelings and emotional responses.

Maybe some of your response has something to do with giving yourself permission to step out of what you would like others to see--the engineer and capable person box--and allowing yourself to be a person with emotion, and feeling, longing and love, nostalgia, sorrow, and hope. Those are some very powerful feelings.

Music connects us--without language--to feelings. I think that music is helping you to tap a very deep well, perhaps of gratitude to yourself--your capable self--for going on Camino and giving all of that expectation and responsibility and focus a break----so you can just BE.

 

[Stivandrer]

It is also clever to listen to your surroundings if for no other reason than to be present in the moment.

feel the same way. I usually experience music popping up in my mind on my inner playlist and sing it out loud. Need no battery power for this purpose either...

 

[Rick M]

as I am working up to my next Camino I have noticed it starting up again. I am still not sure why this walk makes me so emotional, but it sure does.

You don't seem to have got much traction with what was probably a difficult post to write. Perhaps you'll never know for sure, but we can make a pretty good guess. But first, a story.....

We met one fellow the first day on the trail, who would best be pidgeon-holed as a "tough old coot". We saw him very often, and talked a lot. He had come up on the wrong side of the tracks, had a difficult upbringing, struggled with his career, but had found some happiness later in life with a caring wife. Now nearing 70, he was walking the Camino to find perspective. His first tears came after a few drinks a quarter way through the trail. The sorrow he carried was an inability to connect at a deep emotional level with his friends, and especially his family. He was profoundly embarrassed by his outburst, confessing that tough guys like him shouldn't cry. It happened again. Then it became routine. It became evident as the weeks passed that this was a "release" of emotions that he had been suppressing his entire life. Men learn very early in life, to a greater or lesser extent, that showing weakness and vulnerability is not welcome. Except, as he discovered, on the Camino you can get away with it in the company of trusted strangers. The post script is he stopped being embarrassed, and started to become grateful. I think it was a great experience for him.

As CaminoDebrita suggested above, your professional life is rooted in math and physics. There is no room for emotion in that world. But the emotion is there, and some people can hold it while others can't. You seem to need to release it. I have to get up and pee at night as I get older. I can't hold it for long anymore either! Its not a surprise that music triggers your release reflex - math types have a special relationship with music whether they know it or not. All music is constructed with mathematical "bricks" and the more inclined you are that way, the more you experience the beauty in the complexity and symmetry. With well crafted pieces, it can become quite overwhelming. I have music that chokes me up too. I say put the ear buds in and let it carry you away. Unless you find yourself unable to stop crying (in which case you might want to see a doctor) this might just be good for you.

Buen Camino!

 

[stevelm1]

Rick M as it turns out I have played music all my life and was a theory and composition major for a few years before the engineering bug got me. I am quite familiar with the connection between music and science. Even though I am not embarrassed by the the unexpected emotional waves, much, I would still rather hear the birds than any music as I walk.

 

[stevelm1]

BTW folks, if you want to see me blubbering away at Cruz de Ferro follow this link. I was caught completely by surprise at the emotional strength I felt at that place.

 

[CaminoDebrita]

BTW folks, if you want to see me blubbering away at Cruz de Ferro follow this link. I was caught completely by surprise at the emotional strength I felt at that place.

Very moving to me. I have tears rolling down my chubby pre-camino cheeks watching you. I'm proud of you, furry guy. It's hard to try to understand why we feel what we feel. A side note: I loved the end when you exclaimed, "it's a pile of rocks!".

Also, your music choices are really great.

 

[Deleted member 56069]

It is also clever to listen to your surroundings if for no other reason than to be present in the moment.

Thanks for sharing. What resonates most to me from your post is about listening to your surroundings and being present in the moment.

I love my music and have over 8000 songs on my phone currently. In fact enough music I could almost walk the entire Camino Frances and not listen to the same song twice!
And as much as it is a constant companion on all my training walks, I never use it during my daily walking on the Camino. I will admit listening to some songs at the end of the day prior to sleep.

So as much as I love music, I would not substitute any song for the daily 'sound track' of the Camino. From the early morning song birds and inevitable rooster, to distant bells ringing in church towers. Even the sound of my poles and foot steps on different surfaces.

Wearing ear buds during the day says to me that you don't want to be bothered by greetings and talk. In fact I see when I do greet someone with ear buds almost a flash of annoyance as they pull out an ear bud to respond. That they are really enjoying a song and you are interrupting it!

In the end, what ever works best for each individual is fine of course.

 

[David Tallan]

It is also clever to listen to your surroundings if for no other reason than to be present in the moment.

I walked the Camino Frances from Roncesvalles to Finisterre in July and August of 2016 with my son, who turned 16 in the middle of our Camino. We, too, didn't listen to music for most of our Camino in an effort to be present in the moment.

But late in the Camino, on a day when he was finding it particularly hard going he mentioned being tempted to listen to his music and I suggested he give it a try.

It made all the difference! It gave him more energy to walk and distracted him from his pain and discomfort (significantly reducing his complaints). I wish I had suggested it earlier.

Different things work for different people, I guess.

 

[HedaP]

Thank you for your video. It totally resonates with my experience. I am not particularly religious so I approached Cruz de Ferro thinking that I would place my stone and move on. How stupid! I had a tiny granite chip from my sister's grave. I'd seen her hit by a car when she was 4 years old and I was 6. Had absolutely no idea of the emotions that would be released at Cruz de Ferro on my first camino. It sounds a bit bleak but it wasn't because she walked that camino with me.

 

[MichaelC]

[QUOTE="zrexer, post: 554886, member: 56069"
So as much as I love music, I would not substitute any song for the daily 'sound track' of the Camino. From the early morning song birds and inevitable rooster, to distant bells ringing in church towers. Even the sound of my poles and foot steps on different surfaces.

Wearing ear buds during the day says to me that you don't want to be bothered by greetings and talk. In fact I see when I do greet someone with ear buds almost a flash of annoyance as they pull out an ear bud to respond. That they are really enjoying a song and you are interrupting it!

In the end, what ever works best for each individual is fine of course.[/QUOTE]

We all have such different experiences. I use my headphones a lot. I prefer birds, wind, and silence to my music. But I prefer my music to the sound of all the trucks going by on certain long stretches, and -as a solo walker - I use my music to tune-out when I find myself walking too close to groups of loud talkers.

 

[stevelm1]

MichaelC - There was certainly one morning earbuds might have been handy when I was walking for almost an hour behind two Aussie women arguing about who lived where with whom back home, loud enough for the whole mountain to hear. ;-)

 

[PaulCat]

There was a stretch of time (about a week in length) where I would wake up, start walking and weep for a couple of hours. I could not explain it, and more than 2 years out I still can't explain it.