The Camino De Santiago. Many people have heard of it. Conversely, many people have not yet. If you are not in the know, you are probably wondering too.
What is it?
It is one of the most popular pilgrimages in the world. It is much older than me. Yet, I only learned about it after sourcing recommendations to write a LifeHack article.
Every year, over 100,000+ people embark on this journey to Santiago De Compostela, Spain. Some travel on foot. Some travel via bicycle. Then, you have the few that travel on horseback.
It is traditionally known as a spiritual pilgrimage, but others have done it for sport or even as a unique travel experience.
There are many routes to Santiago, but you only need to do the last 100 kilometers (62 miles) of any route to receive the Compostela (certificate of accomplishment).
There are many starting points for which you can choose to do the full pilgrimage route, anywhere in between, or just the last 100 kilometers.
Initially, I thought it was interesting, but I forgot about it within a few days.
My initial thoughts? They were something like this:
Yeah. Looks interesting, but I doubt that I would do something like that. I am not in shape either.
A year later, I find myself on the Camino De Santiago. I did not imagine that I would be taking this journey. Although, I now understand the principle of being comfortable with being uncomfortable.
In this video, I talk more about this principle and share my experience after my first day on the Camino.
If you are not making assumptions and setting expectations, no one or nothing will fail you.