The first lesson: if you intend to walk the whole Camino you MUST keep your weight down.

You learn to give up things that are weighing you down, quickly. I had come from Paris and knew I would be in Madrid after the Camino. But those details really became second to the time spent on the Camino, the present. So the umbrella I had brought for rain had to go, awkward to carry. The pair of Converse had to go, they had no practical use and were taking up space, only flip flops for resting and hiking boots for walking, nada mas. It was cold as hell, so I brought three jackets, but that was too much, I picked two and dropped one along the way. And so on and so forth.

I had to drop the emotional baggage as well. A majority of the Camino was spent worrying about what I would do once I got back to the US, or whether I still wanted to return. There were physically difficult stages of the Camino that I would not have been able to complete if I had not asked for help. I decided to be open to help and advice. I dropped my pride for a month and learned that I could do far better without it than I thought I could. I became comfortable with not knowing the answers but striving to know and enjoying life while I did so.

And finally, I let some friends go. Friends were like some of the other pilgrims along the Way. Some of them were extremely wonderful and healthy to be around and others were not healthy to be around at all. Thats ok. The Camino de Santiago is both a long and wide way, you do not have to be compatible with everyone that comes into your life.

Let some things go.

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