Friday, September 16, 2016

Trekcapri's Camino de Santiago: Every Journey Begins With the First Step

Tomorrow, I will embark on the Journey of a lifetime.  What first started out as a "Dream" will soon become a reality. In the morning, I will leave my comfy bed, my car and my fast internet service here at home to walk an ancient pilgrimage called the "Camino de Santiago (Wikipedia), also known as the Way of St. James.  

I will start in the small French town of St. Jean Pied de Port at the foot of the Pyrenees. From there I will walk 790 kilometers (close to 500 miles) through four of Spain's 15 Regions to the town of Santiago de Compostela which is where the remains of Saint James is buried. 

There are several other routes for this spiritual pilgrimage, but I will be taking the most popular one called the Camino Frances (The French Way) as seen on the famous movie, The Way, with Martin Sheen and Emilio Esteves.

I've been planning and preparing for my Camino for the last two years and I still don't feel prepared. Recently, I told a perfect stranger about my Camino when they asked if I had any travel plans. When I told them I'm excited, but that I don't feel prepared. This person shrugged that off and said that I'll do just fine, it sounds exciting.  It's walking. You'll have a lot of fun. Just then I realized that in the mist of stressing over my preparations, I had forgotten what an amazing experience my Camino will be.  I realized that I have done all that I can do to prepare and that worrying about what I can or cannot control was beginning to take away from the excitement and joy of looking forward to my journey. The Camino lesson in all of this is "to let go, live in the present and enjoy each moment to the fullest".

Some people are born with natural athletic abilities to make such a trip easy, just like some people are born with the natural talents to write classical symphonies. And then there are some who are not.  It is true that I'm not the fittest nor the fastest and I can't come close to writing a classical symphony, so I'm not sure how I'll do or even if I will be able to finish. But what I do know is that I have always tried to live my life and will go beyond my fears to do so. What I lack in natural physical abilities, I feel like I can make up in other attributes like having a strong desire to live my dreams, my faith in God to help guide the way for me and my determination to not give up.  Before I leave tomorrow, I wanted to contemplate on all the things I have going on in my mind and heart and what I hope to experience:
  • my faith in God 
  • my faith in myself
  • the support of my family and friends
  • my belief in the Camino pilgrimage and all the life lessons that it provides  
  • spiritual/religious strengthening
  • the opportunity for self discovery
  • the opportunity to let go of some of the regret's in my life & to ask for forgiveness 
  • the celebration of my new found freedom as a retired person after 41 years of being in the work force 
  • my desire to full fill my dream of walking the 500 miles Camino de Santiago pilgrimage
Will I complete the 500 miles? I don't know. I will leave it in God's hands. All I know is that I would forever regret it if I didn't at least try.  And with that perspective in mind I feel like I have already fulfilled my Camino de Santiago dreams by taking my first step on the Camino Frances Route in the small town of St. Jean-Pied-de-Port.

I plan on blogging and tweeting along the way and on some of my other social media sites.  You can find the links to them by clicking on my Camino de Santiago Page located on the tab at the top of my blog or on the side bar. Follow along as I embark on writing my classical symphony entitled, "Trekcapri's Camino de Santiago, A Journey of Reflections & Gratitude."

I am definitely very thankful to have the opportunity to go on pilgrimage to walk the Camino de Santiago.  And whether or not I complete it, I am very proud of myself for trying and for living my life.  Before I go to bed, I'll say this little prayer and have faith that God will keep me safe, healthy (physically and spirituality) and inspired on this Camino journey.

May the road rise up to meet you, 
May the wind be always at your back. 
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
May the rain fall soft upon your fields. 
And until we meet again, 
may God hold you in the palm of his hand. 
May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son 
and Holy Spirit descend on you.
~ Celtic Blessing

To keep myself motivated, I did this cool word art a while back. I love it. I will say these words to myself as I walk.


And you know I had to do it. Here is my traditional trip announcement video for my Camino de Santiago pilgrimage:




The Dream Lives On . . .  Buen Camino!

2 comments:

  1. Good luck, enjoy, and happy retirement to you! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi YTSL, sorry for the delay in my response to your comment. Thanks so much for your well wishes. I just returned home from Spain. What an amazing journey and it was the perfect retirement gift to myself. I feel renewed and reenergized and I'm already thinking of my 2nd Camino! :)

      I look forward to catching up with my blog friends now. Hope all is well with you.

      Delete

It's me Trekcapri (aka Kathy). Thanks so much for visiting and leaving a comment.