Journey of Reflection: A walk to Santiago

The Camino de Santiago is not just a walk; it is a journey of the soul, where every step carries the weight of countless stories and the promise of personal transformation.

That is how I would describe my experience of hiking the Camino.

It was during a call with a very close friend of mine in the midst of a long and very hard Berlin winter that I decided to hike the Camino De Santiago. People have different motivations for the walk, mine was to establish a deeper connection with myself and push me physically to try to achieve long-distance walking of around 130 km in 5 days that I had never ever conceived in my wildest imagination.

In this blog post, I would share the learnings and realizations from the experience I had :)

Adequate preparation is the key

Since, I had never imagined walking 130 km, taking on this challenge meant I had to prepare myself physically and mentally.

Gaining insights from various blogs about the Camino de Santiago proved invaluable in my mental preparation. Additionally, I was fortunate to have a friend who had embarked on this pilgrimage before, and conversing with her about the emotions and experiences she encountered greatly aided me in readying myself mentally for the journey ahead.

In anticipation of the physical demands awaiting me , I picked up a new sports hobby high-intensity indoor cycling (spinning) and regularly attended HIIT classes. I also went hiking for at least 10 km on the outskirts of Berlin almost every weekend leading up to the Camino.

Last but not least, taking care of the logistical planning immensely made the experience more pleasant.

During challenging moments, take one step at a time

There were often the very difficult and demanding moments, when I felt like giving up and it is in these moments that embracing a steadfast approach of reminding myself to take each step of the journey one at a time helped me push forward and not give up.

Taking “one step at a time” sounds so simple that I often never paid attention to it but it was during this walk I finally experienced how powerful of a statement it is.

Remember to surrender and let go

I had a different set of expectations from the hike. But a lot of things did not go as planned. On the first day of the hike we had to walk 30 KM without getting a proper meal, on the fourth day we walked 5 KM more than we had planned, and my body would experience pain in different parts every other hour.

It is in these moments surrendering myself to the journey and letting go of the fear of the outcome allowed me to approach the hike in a more relaxed and peaceful manner and gave me the mental space to enjoy the journey even in the face of hardships.

The human mind and spirit are unconquerable

My friends and I started to get foot blisters starting from day 1 of the hike, I met countless people having difficulties even taking a single step, I developed a fever on day 3 of the hike, and one of the friend’s knee problems re-appeared on the day 2 of the hike, we met people as old as 70 years who have been walking for few hundred KMs but despite all these difficulties we all had one firm goal “Santiago” that no one was willing to compromise on.

The journey made me experience closely the power of the human mind and spirit that despite countless issues all of us wanted to reach Santiago at all costs and all of us finally did!

Conclusion

I hope I was able to inspire some of you with my experience. I fell in so much love with the experience that I am already planning another Camino De Santiago next spring for approximately 200 km. I would conclude the blog post with a picture of one of my prized possessions from the trip.

Until we meet again, continue to embrace laughter, spread joy, and, above all, fully immerse yourself in the beautiful adventure that is life!