The Camino is a Reset Button
Why people walk the Camino de Santiago more than once
When people find out that we’ve walked the Camino five times, they usually ask us...
...Why?
And honestly, it’s a good question.
It is a little weird to walk a route that you’ve done before. And if you’ve never been on a thru-hike or Camino, you’re right in wondering what all these people are doing when they go back to the Camino year after year.
But I think I finally have a good answer for why we’ve walked the Camino so many times, and why we’re going to walk it at least a few more.
Simply put, the Camino is a reset button.
The Importance of Hitting Reset
The Camino is a do-over. A chance to hit pause on the noise, the emails, and the demands of everyday life.
For a few weeks, at least.
It’s a chance to take a walk outside for a while where it’s quiet.
The weeks leading up to the Camino are filled with research, packing lists, and stress as you try to streamline your bag to “just” the essentials. But as you hike up that first big hill, you realize that your bag is still way too heavy.
And your list of essentials shrinks to:
A pair of good shoes
Good socks, and a shirt you can sweat in
Shorts or pants with good pockets and hiking poles
A water bottle
Sunglasses
and that ratty hat that you put on every day, rain or shine
On the Camino, you wear the same thing every day, and it feels fine. And you quickly realize that your closet back home is full of clothing that you haven’t worn in years.
The Camino Strips You Down to Basics
On the Camino, your daily to-do list is simple:
Find the path.
Find water.
Find coffee.
Find another coffee.
Put one foot in front of the other.
Eat. Drink. Sleep. Repeat.
If you’re lucky, you share a meal and a bottle of wine with new friends at the end of the day. Because the Camino teaches you that the only thing you really need is time.
Time to walk at your own pace. Time to smell the flowers (sometimes literally). Time to have a picnic or pet a horse or a dog or a donkey.
Time to read a book in a hammock or play guitar. Time to learn a new card game in a language you don’t speak. Time to listen to strangers tell their stories. Time to listen to nothing at all. Time to reflect on your day and how you spent it.
Time to stroll through ancient churches while you picture the people who built them, and prayed in them, and the people who still take care of them today.
The Camino gives you time to be human. Time to be yourself.
Time away from whatever you need time away from so you can be...
Just you.
Just for a few weeks.
The Camino is many things to many people, but at its heart, the Camino is simply time away from the pressures of “everyday life” so you can relearn how to live your life each day.
The Camino is a reset button.
Maybe that’s why so many people walk it more than once.
And why we’re going to walk it again and again and again…
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