The Camino Will Always Be With You

It’s normal to have post Camino blues.

Coming home from any grand adventure is a big mix of feelings.

I found myself both glad to be home and constantly missing the trail.

And of course, I missed my trail sisters!

I wrote them a letter a few days after we arrived home, and even as I was writing,

I knew these words were as much for me as they were for my companions.

 

Hello beautiful friends,

 

I hope you are all doing well and have had a chance to rest up a bit from our grand adventure. 

 

There are a lot of possible feelings and emotions around coming home from the Camino and I just want to acknowledge and make space for them all. 

 

Disappointment. This thing we planned for so long is now over.

 

Relief. To be back in your own bed, your own bathroom. To see your loved ones, your beloved pets! And to eat and drink just exactly what you like.

 

Sadness. Missing our camaraderie. Missing the trail and the rhythm of days of walking.

 

Dissatisfaction. I can’t find anyone who will make me fresh-squeezed orange juice. And also why is there not a beer garden around every corner?

 

Joy + Gratitude. You did it!! You set out to do a thing and you can feel so much pride in the fact that you followed through and did it. You got on the plane. You walked the miles! You tried new things!

 

In the midst of all these emotions (and probably some I didn’t mention), I want to share a couple of things that I love to remember about coming home from adventures, and specifically from the Camino.

 

A great journey has three parts: the planning stage, the actual journey, and the memories you make.

Making some extra space for the third part (memories) when I get home gives me a lot of joy. It’s like a breath I am taking somewhere in my day even as I jump back into my life at home. This can look a lot of ways: printing a few pictures to put on your fridge, making a photo album, journaling your memories while they are still fresh, or telling a good friend the stories from your trip. (For me this stage usually involves blogging if you want to follow along.)

 

Your Camino is always with you. We say Buen Camino to each other on the trail which translates to ‘good way.‘

Even if you are having a hard time or going up a steep hill or it’s raining, you still say ‘Buen Camino’ or ‘good way.’ The Camino is still essentially ‘good’ regardless of how you are feeling in any given moment.  In the same way, your Buen Camino – your good way – is present with you no matter where you find yourself now. You still only have to do the one next thing that is in front of you. You still can trust that whatever you need for the day will be provided along the way. 

 

One of my favorite conversations we had together was about what we would like to take home from the Camino. So I am picturing each of you walking through your days with these precious gifts we mentioned:

• making space for silence 
• knowing you can walk further than you thought
• remembering that you’re not the first to walk this path and that you won’t be the last
• patiently waiting a long time for something you long for
• taking one step at a time
• bringing the wild dreams from your imagination into being
• going with the flow

Friends, it was an incredible honor to walk with each of you. I am holding our time together and each of you in my heart.

I have one more poem to share with you.

It’s a favorite of mine, by Mary Oliver of course:

 

How I Go To The Woods

Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single

friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore

unsuitable.

I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds

or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of

praying, as you no doubt have yours.

Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit

on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds,

until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost

unhearable sound of the roses singing.

If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love

you very much.

― Mary Oliver, from Swan: Poems and Prose Poems

 

Yesterday I walked in the woods and spoke my heart to a favorite tall pine and I remembered this poem. And what is true is that I would happily walk in the woods with each of you again, and that I love you very much!

 

Until the next time.

With love and grace,

Alison

Reading this letter again (it’s now a month since I returned home from the Camino) is a sweet reminder to keep dreaming up adventures and to enjoy the memories of the many trails I have had the honor of walking.

I hope it encourages you to plan an adventure to look forward to in 2022. You are welcome to join me on one of mine. You can send me an inquiry if you are interested in walking with me in the future. Or if walking is not really your thing, you are welcome to join me on this retreat in Italy in April.

Or maybe you just need to plan something to look forward to on your own.

A great journey has three parts: the planning stage, the actual journey, and the memories you make.

The planning stage can be as sweet as the other parts of the trip. Among other things, planning can include setting a notification on airplane ticket prices, starting a travel savings account, watching a movie about where you want to go or gathering books from the library about your destination.

Planning is where you get to take your wildest dreaming and turn it into an actual journey.

Maybe you have found it difficult to dream lately, and even harder to plan.

I am praying that we all start to wake up our dreaming muscles this year.

Maybe you can start by asking yourself this question.

Where do you want to go in 2022? 

Get out a notebook and start dreaming with your pen. (Or the notes app on your phone).

Also, you’re welcome to answer below in the comments. I would love to hear.

And no matter what you do — walking the Camino, planning a grand adventure, or taking a weekend trip to the woods — I wish you a “good way.”