My Walk on El Camino de Santiago: Know What You are Signing Up For

I first heard of the El Camino walk on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday. Paulo Coelho, best-selling author of The Alchemist, was her guest and he spoke of how it was on this road that he was inspired to begin writing at the age of 38. Previously, he had been a successful businessman, but after walking the El Camino, he came home to his wife and said, “You will probably divorce me now,” and he went on to tell her that he planned to give up his work in the business world and pursue his childhood dream of becoming a writer. It was a big risk, and one that could mean he would go broke, but he knew he had to do it.

For over a thousand years, countless pilgrims have made the iconic journey to the final resting place of St. James the Greater on the Camino de Santiago. The route for El Camino de Santiago begins at Saint Jean Pied de Port, France, and travels 500 miles through four of Spain's 15 regions, ending at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. People often make this trek for spiritual or personal reasons. When I heard Coelho speak of his experience there, I felt that I needed to make this walk myself and see if it would help me to learn something about myself and perhaps find my true purpose. Over the next few months, you'll have the opportunity to learn more about my journey on the El Camino, and the lessons I learned that I will be applying to my business, and perhaps you can apply them to yours as well.

The first lesson I learned was to know what you are signing up for! I joined a travel group online so I could prepare for the trip by chatting with other people who also planned to go. We discussed what clothes to bring and what the weather would be like. The group organizer told us that it was an easy walk and that there was no special equipment or training needed. There would also be a truck that would be there to pick people up if they were injured or too tired to keep walking. It sounded perfect to me. We would walk for eight days, and I imagined about four hours each day of leisurely walking before we would go on to the promised yoga, food, meditation, massage, and rest.

That vision was blown on day one. About two hours into the walk, they took us up a steep hill which went on for five miles. It was hard work and I got discouraged. I was thinking, "Why did I sign up for this? Did I really pay for this?" I would have called the truck, but the truck couldn't get to that part of the mountain to pick us up. We had to go until there was a break because the truck doesn’t go up the hill. You have to get through the hill. There was no rescuer coming. We started on a hill and I had to get to the top. I was pretty sure my first day would also be my last. I decided to go home.

I was walking a long time by myself, and in the end, I saw people in their 60s and 70s who were handling the hill just fine. Everybody was tired, even the people that were in great physical shape. Eventually, everybody finished it, including a lady about 77 years old. I just thought if she could do it, I could do it. I slowed down so the older lady could catch up with me. We walked and talked about where we came from and what we did for a living. We had a really nice chat and it helped me get to the top of the hill. We finished together.

That first day was so terrible, and I thought that every day would be that bad. But they gave us the hardest walk on the first day. I stayed and the rest of the walk was nowhere near as difficult as day one.  Finally, at the top of the hill, I felt amazing. I was tired, but I couldn't believe that I actually finished. It was glorious to be done for the day because I didn't think I could do it. My feet felt like bricks.

I feel like the lady I finished the climb up that hill with was a blessing. She was positive and kept me distracted by talking with me. She was going to finish so I could too. Befriending this lady made it happen. She was an achiever and by aligning myself with her, she was able to help pull me up that hill.