Life Lessons on the Camino: Zig-Zagging, Blisters and My Missing MouthPiece

I just finished my 3rd day on the Camino and already I feel like I'm learning valuable life lessons! Here's 3 that I canshare with you. 

1) Time alone is important, but so is spending time with friends and family.

On my way to St. Jean Pied-de-Port I met "Mr. Compostelle" - Sabi from Hungry - now don't get too excited he's happily engaged and his fiancé will be joining him in Santiago. Since Day 1 we have been hiking partners and we will likely arrive at Santiago together. In a very short time we have also become good friends. Our twosome quickly became a foursome on the first day when we met Mylene and Jay and in a very short time our Camino family began to take shape. By this  morning we were 7, but sadly we said good-bye today and surprisingly it was very hard. Family, no matter the shape or size is important, which is especially true when you're hiking 800 km. I am blessed to have Sabi as part of my journey. 

2) Blisters hurt, but force us to slow down. 

Blisters are awful. To date, I have 2 minor ones that don't hurt at all and 1 on the heal that hurts a lot! On the trail blisters force you to stop, rest and be present in the moment around you; rather than plow through to the next "challenge." There are uncomfortable and sometimes even painful moments in life that we tend to plow through as quickly as possible rather than take our time to work through. These blisters will be a daily reminder to be in the moment and to take the time to care for the little injuries/things, as oppose to rushing through them!

3) Zig-Zag down the hills. 

I don't have lot of patience. I like to get to point A to B as fast as possible. I like to know where I'm going in life and I get frustrated sometimes when things don't go the way that I have planned. On the Camino you can't go straight down a hill, it's too hard on your knees. Instead, you must zig-zag down the hill, which is much safer and less hard on your knees. There are times in life that we are called to zig-zag to get to our final destination, rather than take the direct route. And although we don't always understand why, we must trust that this is the better path for us. 

3) Don't sweat he small stuff - in this case the missing mouth piece!

I realized last night at 10 pm that I forgot my night guard in the previous village, boy was I ever angry at myself for being so irresponsible.  As Sabi pointed out, I swore in 3 different languages - Québécois, English and French. This event has taught me that I need to stop being so hard on myself and beating myself up for my very human imperfections, because I was really angry towards myself. Not only that, but it is teaching me about trust and allowing others to help me out, as Mylene and Jay graciously offered to drive to the hostel, retrieve the case and mail it to me upon their return to the US next week. It's hard for me to ask for help and to depend on others, which is something I'm being challenged to surrender right now. Who would have thought that my mouth piece would teach me lessons of: self-kindness, trust and generosity. 

- Buen Camino