And here is the second part of my experience walking on the Camino to Santiago. The Camino is like living through a concentrated period of life where you have time to pause and reflect: baggage get thrown, fear of failure is overcome, rules get broken.
4. Minimalism
Carrying all that you need on your back for a few weeks is truly to physically experience the concept of minimalism. I started my journey with 10kg in my backpack, and ended the journey with 6Kg (not counting food or water). In our daily lives, we don't realise how much all the stuff we have to make our lives easier actually makes our lives more complex, how it ‘ties us down’. And how much of what we have we never use; most women wear between 20-30% of what's in their wardrobe. Sound familiar?
What we carry can also be viewed as a metaphor for our fears; not having enough and/or not being enough. Most first timers on the Camino shed weight (from their packs and themselves) as they walk and feel freer as a result.
It's a difficult but powerful experience to trust we have and are enough. And ‘to know’ that the rest we will find on our way.
5. Purpose, achievement and fear of failure
When I started my journey on the Camino in France I did not know how far I would be able to go. I hoped I would get to Saint Jean Pied de Port, at the border with Spain and about halfway to Santiago. It was only after a few weeks that reaching Santiago became a real possibility. But, I also knew I might not get there - and many pilgrims don't, usually due to injuries.
When we take a risk and do something, there is always the possibility of failing.
Having a purpose positively impacts motivation, and this is a really useful tool to overcome bad weather, bedbugs, snorers, aches, pains and just plain tiredness. To have a purpose helps us to truly engage in what we do. It is one of the pillars for happiness in positive psychology: to engage in an activity that is both truly interesting and also represents a challenge.
When the purpose is completed the sense of achievement is also a very powerful experience, but the journey is what creates the sense of achievement.
6. The rules
I came across two sacred rules on the Camino that, if broken, can make the die-hard pilgrims really upset and make you feel less of a true pilgrim. Firstly ‘you must walk every kilometer of the Camino’ (i.e. you don't cheat by taking a bus or a train when you are tired or the weather is really bad) and secondly ‘you don't reserve your hostel in advance’ (pilgrims in the Middle Ages couldn’t, so nor should you - the Camino will provide a bed).
How are you with rules? Part of me was reacting against what seemed to be nonsensical rules and part of me wanted to do the Camino 'right'. So I found my own way with these rules. I did not walk every kilometer of the Camino but the rule made me realise that if I broke it too often, then it would be very tempting to stop walking altogether. And I really really wanted to finish. At the beginning of my trip, I booked the hostels in advance. But I understood that this was limiting my freedom to stop whenever and wherever I wanted. As a result, I became more flexible.
So I also learned that everyone has their own rules for when to break these rules. Terry Pratchett summarises well in Thief of Time the wisdom I took from this experience: " Look, that's why there's rules, understand? So that you think before you break 'em"