🌱 walking to santiago

I did it!

mid-way through

Hello! Hola!

I did it! I walked from Valença do Minho in Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain on the Portuguese Camiño this past week. As I write,  I’m on a train starting my journey home and it feels weird to be tied to a schedule and not moving by foot to my next destination.

Walking on my own for six days over 126 km gave me lots of time to think. Sometimes my thoughts were reflective as I pondered life. But I also wondered why there were so many roosters, stray cats and barking dogs. They were everywhere!

The path wasn’t busy (it ramps up in April) and while I saw and chatted with other walkers I was mostly on my own. I think if I’d been walking longer I would have made more of an effort to connect with others.  But this week of solitude was exactly what I needed.

I had many good days and hours but some really crappy points too. Time when everything hurt, I was hungry or the weather was really bad and I questioned what I was doing. The last day in particular was hard. My achilles tendinitis had flared on my right ankle which meant I was moving slowly to start. But then I received a gift from above when it rained so hard for the last half of the day I forgot about my sore ankle. Funny how distractions work!

Walking into the Praza do Obradorio, the square in front of the Cathedral de Santiago, was a surreal moment. The rain had slowed to a drizzle and, as I stood in front of the massive cathedral with only a handful of other pilgrims, I felt an immense sense of pride. There hadn’t been anyone with me to share the experience or give me a pep talk when I needed one. I’d had to motivate myself. I did something I’d been scared to do!

The lessons from the past week will take time to percolate and I’ll be sure to share my insights in future newsletters. In the meantime I wanted to leave you with these two thoughts:

Don’t wait.

If you’ve been thinking about doing something don’t wait. There will never be a right time.

Do it scared.

This walk had been on my mind for a long time but I only finally booked it about six weeks ago. I overthought everything because I was scared. What would the path look like? What will I eat? Will I have the right clothes? My fears almost stopped me from going.

Thank you for being here and for all your kind and generous notes. I hope you have an excellent weekend and I’ll be back next week with more.

I’m so grateful you are here.

Buen Camino,

Sarah

PS - I am piloting a new one-on-one coaching program starting in April tentatively called “Navigating Change Through Life’s Transitions”. If you are a woman who is looking for clarity and support as you navigate change in your life reply to this email and I’d love to chat.

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the path …

I put together a short video with some images from my walk. A tease really but I wanted to share it with you!