Life lessons I learned from walking the Camino
“To feel the pull, the draw, the interior attraction, and to want to follow it, even if it has no name still, that is the "pilgrim spirit." The "why" only becomes clear as time passes, only long after the walking is over.”
- Kevin A. Codd, Beyond Even the Stars: A Compostela Pilgrim in France
It was back in 2018 that me and my sister decided to embark on the Camino de Santiago. It was something we had always said we wanted to do, but as with most things, we hadn’t got around to actually booking our flights and going! It was the summer just after my final year of college and while other friends went straight into internships or jetted off for relaxing sun holidays, myself and my sister were putting ourselves through our paces by hiking from Logroño to Santiago in Northern Spain, a bit more than 600 kilometers, on the French Route of the Camino. We had decided to fly into Santander and to visit some cities before walking - Santander itself, San Sebastián and Bilbao - which consisted of a lot of eating and drinking! But we knew we’d have to start walking soon … and after a night couchsurfing in Logroño, we said it was time to start walking, and like that … the next morning we were following the yellow arrows to lead us to our next stop for the night.
You’ll notice that it was not so much the act of walking and long days that make the most impact, but rather, the people you meet, the stories you hear, and the mark they leave. I am sharing with you my experience in that the hope that someday (sooner rather than later!) you’ll embark on your own Camino, whether that be this journey or something else completely different!
Here are three (of many) life lessons I learned from walking the Camino de Santiago:
1. Sometimes people are only a chapter in your life
This first lesson is one I wish I had known sooner. As someone who prefers having few (but close) friends as opposed to multiple acquaintances, it can be hard to accept some people are only a chapter in your life.
Although the Camino is traditionally a religious pilgrimage, people walk it for all sorts of reasons. Funnily enough, I found the majority of people seemed to be walking the Camino for personal reasons rather than spiritual reasons (as were my sister and myself) … ‘buen camino!’ you'd shout out as people walked past you, which literally translates to ‘good way’, in other words, have a good journey! Sometimes your fellow pilgrims stayed chatting and other times they’d keep walking. You might share the same accommodation and then the next day they were up and gone.
The question would arise, “so … why are you walking the camino?”, sometimes we gave an answer, and other times we didn’t. To be perfectly honest, we didn’t have a concrete answer other than, we wanted to experience something new. And ... if we ‘found ourselves’ in the process, whatever that meant, well, that would be great!
I remember meeting a guy from Slovenia in his early thirties who was walking solo. He seemed a bit reserved at first, but then we got to chatting. He worked remotely as a translator and seemed very settled with a long-term girlfriend and a good job. In fact, we walked for the following days together, exchanging stories about our past and what we’d like to do in the future. He let me know that his dream was to go to art college in New York, but his girlfriend was not supportive and saw it as a waste of time. I encouraged him to go for it, although the road might be long, at the end of the day, this is something he really wanted. After a few days, we were going our separate ways. We exchanged numbers and that was it.
Then, a year or two later I get a message … from Slovenian guy! He was checking in and seeing how my life was going. He let me know he had broken up with his girlfriend 6 months prior and was planning his move to New York, after having finally been accepted to art school there. He said he was “finally doing something about his dream.” It was a surreal moment and I was so happy for him.
It’s mad to think about the impact the brief time we spend with people on our journey can have, much more than we could ever hope or wish for.
2. It’s never too late to change
This second lesson can be a hard one to grasp. Sometimes we can write people off, whether that be our close family members, our long-term friends, or even people we have just met … someone is going down a wrong path or perhaps they are angry or resentful towards life. It can be difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
During a very rainy and grim day in Galicia, my sister and myself were sitting in the communal space of our albergue (the pilgrim hostel) and we got to speaking to a Chinese woman and a Dutch man (probably in his 40s). The Dutch pilgrim was so surprised to find us, two Irish girls in our early 20s, walking the Camino. He explained that at our age he was ‘throwing away his life’, partying heavily with little to no concern about the greater meaning of life.
This was his final stretch of the Camino, having done other parts at different points in his life. He went on to tell us that the Camino saved his life … in the not-so-distant past he had been caught up with alcohol and drugs. His wife had left him. Now, he said, the walk gave him time to think about what was really important to him. I remember him clearly stating how he now wakes up every day “high on life” and everything he does, he now does for his children. … he proceeded to pull out a photo he had of his two young kids.
It was an emotional testimony indeed … Needless to say, myself and my sister were in floods of tears!
Thinking back on this reminds me of the Viktor Frankl quote "when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” He was no longer able to change the fact that his wife left him and that his life had taken a bad turn but he was able to change himself and his habits, keeping in mind a greater good, that being the love he had for his children.
3. We are all searching for the same thing in life
Finally, the last lesson I’ll share here - whether we realise it or not, we are all searching for the same thing out of life: happiness. And, we are all on this journey together. The path we take to get to our destination may differ, the things we do and encounter may change, but ultimately, we all have the same ‘end point’.
On the Camino this is clear. We were all heading to the city of Santiago de Compostela. We wanted to get our pilgrim passports stamped and our final certificates to prove we had completed the long trek. Some pilgrims walked, some cycled, some (ehhm cheated) and took a bus ride at parts. However, we all got there in the end!
The experience, although shared, was inevitably a unique one. No two people had the same experience, not even my sister and myself. It is often said that the Camino is a metaphor for life, and I believe this to be true.
The final 40km (if you walked a fair distance before) was tough, just like the final sprint at the end of our own lives. When you reach the end, you don’t just think of the exhaustion and the lack of motivation of the last kilometers, you see the experience as a whole, the ups and downs. The further you travel, the more wisdom you gain, the more experience you have, and the greater sense of purpose you develop.
Now, by the end, did I have the ‘new experience’ that I was looking for? .. for sure! In fact, I gained so much more than this. I learned about fortitude, the human experience, and the various north stars that keep people going. For some, it’s their family, for many it’s their desire for a new challenge … while for others, it’s their faith.
And what about you? What keeps you going?
Here are some Camino resources for those interested:
The film The Way starring Martin Sheen - a really nice film. A father decides to walk the Camino in memory of his son.
A short read on why walk the Camino & the different routes
Camino Guides - always helpful to read up on an old-school guidebook before setting off!
