Life Lessons from my Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage
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I was blessed to have completed a spiritual pilgrimage through the Camino de Santiago in May 2024. I followed the Camino Portuguese with the Variante Espiritual. The experience exceeded my dreams. I found it physically challenging, not necessarily because of the distance to walk every day, but because of the steep ascends and descends, and at times, walking through difficult terrains, such as slippery rocks and mud, while it rained. And it rained a lot. I experienced a deep sense of peace and joy from walking 5-7 hours daily, often in solitude, through Galicia, one of Spain’s most beautiful and varied landscapes. It was so nice not to have any commitments or appointments. I just walked, carrying all my belongings and water in a backpack, prayed, conversed with God, and felt the warmth of his love. Here are some reflections and lessons from my Camino pilgrimage if you find them helpful.
The training and the Camino taught me that I love walking daily and enjoy walking long distances. My life is packed with activities, and my work is intense, with 40-50 weekly meetings. While I’m walking, everything slows down; I have a rhythm, and I feel the sunshine, wind, rain, and cold. I hear birds and running brooks. I have time to pray, to think, and just to be. I get to greet others passing by. I find it therapeutic, and I pray that my body will allow me to walk for many years.
The evil one does not want us to get closer to God. When we embark on events like retreats, Bible studies, and pilgrimages, he will throw all kinds of things at us to elicit anger and discouragement and to make us give up in despair. In my training period, I had to deal with many new issues and pain associated with my feet, knees, back, hip flexors, and neck. I had several silly accidents that injured my body. Guess what? I was trying to deal with the challenges on my own. I was trying to fix things. Everything changed once I humbly surrendered to God and told him, “God, this is your Camino. I’m doing this for your glory. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; help me be healthy enough to walk if it is your will.” I also prayed to God and Saint Michael to protect me from the wickedness and attacks of the devil. After that, my body healed quickly, I stopped having accidents and became ready for the pilgrimage. So the lesson here was humility, trust, and always asking for protection. None of the issues came up during the pilgrimage.
“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t you so that you can become who you were meant to be in the first place.”
In what ways did my pilgrimage teach me to un-become things that are not truly me so that I could become who I was meant to be?
Physical health. Walking 7-14 miles daily in treacherous conditions with a 17 lb. backpack taught me that my body is athletic, resilient, healthy, and adaptable. All the pain from a hard day’s hike would be healed by the next morning. For years, I dealt with neck, shoulder, and back problems that I considered a new normal for my body, but most of them resulted from spending many hours sitting at my work desk. Right now, I don’t feel any pain. This is and can continue to be the real me. Another example is with my eyes. I suffer from dry eyes and must apply special drops throughout the day. I understood that to be a permanent condition that came with age. I only needed to use a fraction of the drops during my pilgrimage. Why? It’s likely because I did not have any computer screen time. From now on, I need to lower my computer screen time. This healthy and athletic body is who I was meant to be.
Mental health. I experienced freedom from email, social media, and TV during my pilgrimage. Over the years, I got used to looking at my cell phone more and more during the day to check news, email, and social media. This bad habit grew over time and had detrimental impacts on the mind. I would unconsciously check my phone many times an hour. During my Camino, I briefly checked the news, email, and social media in the morning and evening. During the day, I only used the phone to take a photo or check my location on a map. That freedom added to my peace, focus, and mental clarity. This is who I was meant to be.
Emotional health. Our interactions have become superficial and transactional because of the business of my and society’s lives. During my training walks, I would look at any walker or car driver passing me in the opposite direction, smile, and wish them a good morning or afternoon. The vast majority of the people were surprised and awkwardly responded as if it was a chore. My interactions with friends and family are short and purposeful. During the Camino, I experienced a different reality. Suddenly, I was immersed in a different microcosm of society. We easily interacted with pilgrims from all over the world, and despite our language and cultural differences, we were all on a journey together. Some were seeking spiritual growth, and some needed time to process the death of a loved one or to get clarity for a major life decision. Some were seeking adventure and enjoying beauty. But all of us were on some transformational journey. As our walk brought us to a person, we would start talking, sometimes for 10 minutes or hours and days. We may not see a person for days and then see them at a cafe and catch up. It was easy to go deep quickly and share about life. To listen without judgment. To challenge or show empathy. It was fun, joyful, enriching, and natural. I loved all the perspectives I learned. When we walked past someone, we wished them “Buen Camino!” How beautiful is it to wish others a good journey? I learned that all humanity is one and interconnected. We all seek love, health, peace, joy, sufficient abundance, dignity, an opportunity to contribute to something bigger than ourselves and to unite our souls with our creator more closely. This is who I was meant to be.
Resiliency and trust. I stopped looking at the weather app throughout the day to see when it may rain. I just looked at the temperature in the morning to see how warmly I should start. After that, if it rained, I put on my poncho. If it got cold, I added layers. I ate when hungry, and I pushed through on steep hills. Things were going to be all right no matter what came my way. Despite difficulties, every day was a beautiful day. Every day was a joyous day. I trusted in God’s divine providence; I was grateful to be alive and walking through beautiful Portugal and Spain and filled with gratitude for God’s blessings. This is who I was meant to be.
Being present in the moment. As I mentioned above, I had unconsciously become a multi-talker in life. Prepping for a meeting while in the middle of another meeting, looking up something on Google while watching a movie, and checking social media while walking. During most of my training walks, I prayed, but most of the time, I listened to podcasts or music. During the Camino, I had to be alert and be present in the moment. The path constantly changed from pavement to dirt, to big rocks, small stones, slippery steps, mud, holes, inclines, declines, etc. For my safety, I had to be in the moment, looking for the next scallop shell and yellow arrow that would confirm I was on the right Camino path. Despite walking for long hours and often completely alone, I never desired to put on my earbuds and listen to anything. I immersed myself in the life that surrounded me. When alone, I conversed with God; when conversing with others, I was 100% there with and for them. Effortlessly. This is who I was meant to be.
Walking in his presence. All of the above things that helped me become who I was meant to be in the first place also enabled me to unite closer to God. I was able to walk in God’s presence for hours on end. I always started the day by thanking God for a new day, asking for his help, and praying individually for each family member, members of my church, and my work. I would then pray a rosary and pray two more rosaries during the day. I was in communion most of the day and felt his love and presence. I lived in gratitude for so many things I was being exposed to. I praised him constantly, I prayed for anyone I came in contact with, I asked for graces to discern and live his will in my life, and I listened in silence. It was an effortless and natural constant exchange with our Creator. I was in a unique situation because my only objectives were to put one foot in front of the other, have sufficient food and water, rest, and arrive at my destination. I was also able to attend mass most evenings, which i found so very helpful. Having this much time in solitude is not normal in our modern world. But it gave me a taste of what’s possible, and with God’s graces and counsel, I pray that I can more closely walk in his presence through my average days back at home and at work. I can at least approximate my experience through constant gratitude, praise, praying for others, seeing his counsel on decisions, and attending mass more often. This is who I was meant to be.
I must reflect on how I can simplify my life, detach from possessions, devote more time to God and others, live in the present moment, and always walk in his presence. Then I will better able to love God with all my mind, heart, and soul and to love others as I love myself. I am grateful for this gift and look forward to my next Camino pilgrimage.
“Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino y nada más;
Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante, no hay camino
sino estelas en la mar.”
Antonio Machado
Traveler, your footprints
are the only road and nothing else.
Traveler, there is no road;
you make your own path as you walk.
As you walk, you make your own road,
and when you look back
you see the path
you will never travel again.
Traveler, there is no road;
only a ship's wake on the sea.
