What I found on a trail between France and Spain
Published September 3, 2022, Herald Forum
Recently, I have taken time to change the course of my career as well as making time to travel and reflect. Here’s a bit of what I have learned these last months.
I have been leading a non-profit organization for the last eight years and am deeply invested in both individuals and the community at large. With my new work, I seek to have an impact that fully uses my gifts and skills to see and connect others.
A close friend recently called me a treasure hunter and said I had the gift of seeing the treasure within everyone and helping them to see it and share it from within. This feels imperative in a time when so many of us struggle to see our gifts and can barely manage what is in front of us.
On our trip, my intention was to walk the length of the Camino de Santiago trail starting in France, crossing the Pyrenees and ending in Santiago, Spain. It is a reflective pilgrimage that is traveled by about 200,000 people each year, each with their own reasons. My husband had walked the trail in 2016 to gain personal perspective in his own way. While we did not walk the entire path, we did walk for seven days, crossed the Pyrenees and accomplish one of my desired outcomes of reflection and enriching my perspectives. What I observed on the path:
• Success should not be defined by others.
• We all need to slow down.
• Beauty is right in front of you all the time.
• Americans identify ourselves by what we do.
• We have the capacity to achieve so many things we think we are not capable of doing.
Success should not be defined by others: Years ago I learned that my way of doing a yoga pose would not look like the teacher’s way or even the others in the class. I raised my children by annoying them regularly with the phrase “to compare is to despair.” My walk was a success for me. I did not get a compostela or complete the 500 miles. There is a lot of encouragement to make your own path, create your own way. My journey was different from each of the other traveler’s and equally impactful; for me. For some, my journey would not be labeled a success. I am proud of my path and realize that we need to define, own and revel in our own definitions of what success looks like.
We all need to slow down: Everyone is rushing. Off to the next activity, place or task that has been given perceived priority and urgency. Even on a path through rural Spain, there was a sense of hurry to get to the next alburge (a hostel) along the trail. People from all around the world; hurrying.
As I went into villages and looked back at some travels, I know many cultures schedule time to slow down. Spain and many South American cultures have modified the siesta to allow for an afternoon break. Great Britain encourages the ritual of an afternoon cup of tea at 4 p.m. In Swedish, the word fika means “to have a break,” a key part of Swedish culture, derived from the Swedish word for coffee. While fika breaks are often impromptu, many companies schedule fika breaks at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to encourage employees to discuss what is on their mind. When I visited France, businesses closed from noon to 2 p.m., and I recently found the same tradition in Portugal when small businesses closed from 1 to 3 p.m.
We need to examine why we are in a hurry, where we are going and what it takes to be our best and do our best work to get “there.”
Beauty is right in front of you all the time: It makes sense that when you are in a hurry, you miss much of the beauty of the world. As I walked the Camino, I would take 20 steps, stop and notice what was around me and breathe. Part of this initially was because the path was difficult or uphill. It then became a practice to notice the beauty. I meditate for 10 minutes each morning to remind myself to notice what is around me. People, difficult lessons, your own home and our surroundings wherever they may be offer beauty. We simply need to take a moment on a regular basis to notice.
Americans identify ourselves by what we do: I could pretty much guarantee that if someone initially asked what I did for a living as I traveled that they were from the United States. If someone asked what brought me to this journey, city or place, chances were that they were from outside of the U.S. This is no disrespect to our country, simply an observation. I am proud to represent America when I travel. We have been conditioned to identify with what we do. Part of my personal work since leaving my non-profit management job has been to help to identify who I am without being that title. I also recently sold a car that I loved that was bright orange. As I walked and reflected, I realized that I had tied my own sense of identity up in those external indicators: a title and a perky car.
We tend to think that others are how they vote or where they live or what church they go to. The divide that these labels and identifiers create closes us off to so much. It is closing our country and world off by limiting ourselves to these small indicators of what truly comprises who we are and why we believe, vote, work and live the way we do.
We have the capacity to achieve: Let me start with stating that I walked over the Pyrenees with a 27-pound backpack. The journey was a 4,600-foot ascent, with 1,200 feet in elevation gain over Napoleon Pass.
I had never backpacked before and did not think that I had the capacity to do that. For some, it may be in a day’s work. For me, I overcame perceived personal barriers and thoughts about what I can and can’t do and accomplished more than I would have guessed I could.
People do this in gyms daily. Writers, artists, managers, laborers and each of us in so many varied roles are capable of whatever we put our minds to. Add some grace and patience along the way and you have the ability to surprise yourself. Chances are that others already believe and know you can do it!
