by Clarisa Peregrina
I learned about how important it was to set goals a long time ago. If you don't have goals in your life then what you most worry about and spend time on becomes your goal. But sometimes we worry about small things and spend time too much time on them using up energy that we could use on better goals.
Although I was told about this in the 1980's I never did much about it until I simply had to ... that is when I faced life on my own after a very painful break up of a 30 year marriage.
I found the only way I could deal with the pain was to keep very busy and very interested in something ... so I decided to upgrade my skills and do a Graduate Certificate in Education. I worked so hard (I had to, to forget my sadness) that I got a High Distinction (HD) on my first assignment. I couldn't believe it! I had never achieved that as an undergraduate. Well, this spurred me on and my first big conscious goal was to get HDs for all my assignments, which I did! And thus, by the end of year 2006 I had achieved my first goal.
My second goal was to get a job. I had not worked for a long time and was quite anxious about this, but because I did so well in the practical part of my Certificate; I was offered a job at the school where I did it. I didn't even have to look for work!
After that I decided that I had to quit smoking, especially if I wanted to go overseas on some adventure or other, which I did. My smoking was very heavy and dominated my days and nights and of course got worse during the time of my separation. So quitting smoking became my goal for 2007. It took me until the end of October that year, to smoke my last cigarette. I haven't touched a cigarette since.
Well then, I now had freed up about AUS $4160 (it cost me about $80 a week to smoke) and about that time I had decided what adventure I wanted to have. 2008 would be my year of reflection. I decided to walk the original pilgrim's path from St Jean Pied de Port in France, up and over the Pyrenees and across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela, a distance of 800 km. Walking 800km mostly on my own would allow much time for reflection.
Walking to Santiago de Compostela, or walking ‘El Camino’ as it is called in Spanish, without catching a bus or taxi, would be my 2008 goal. To do this I would have to get fit and do a lot of preparation as not only would I be walking a long way but I would also have to carry all my belongings (about 11 kg). I had my newly freed-up cigarette money to purchase my walking gear and to pay for a personal trainer. Scott, from Inform Health in Adelaide worked hard to get me into shape. I saw him twice a week for almost half a year as well as followed his plan to help me increase the number of kilometres I walked each day, as well as slowly increasing the weight on my back.
On June the 18th 2008 I arrived in Santiago de Compostela having achieved perhaps the greatest challenge so far in my life. This is what I wrote to a fellow pilgrim who supported me throughout my planning and training for my Camino:
26 July 2008, Lima, Peru
Hi Sil,
This is what I’ve learned:
I thought nothing much had changed in my life on the Camino, and that I had done a lot of learning before I walked, but wow, it is all happening now! Amazing!
I don´t ever want to forget that I should take one step at a time, one day at a time accepting what that day brings, without fear; and making the best of it; and then letting it all start again the next morning. And isn’t wonderful that we get another day, the next day, to do it better than today?
And then, the power of the symbolism of the weight that I carried in my back pack: Why did my pack feel heavier on some days and lighter on other days, even though the weight I carried was the same? Was it because I also carried my emotions, my memories, my thoughts (positive and negative) with me? And how do I lighten ‘my load’ so that today is easier to experience?
It is fantastic ... and I know as time goes by that I will understand even more about how to live ... I can now choose how to live an experience, or a day, I may not like it, but if I look at it from a different point of view, I can learn from it, AND even enjoy it. Wow! It is amazing!
Love you Sil for dragging me on to the Camino, and for every now and then checking to see how I was going!
:-)
Pilgrim hugs to you too,
Clarisa Peregrina
And Sil’s next email to me:
Clarisa,
You overcame more than most to walk the path and you did it with determination and courage. Just remember, there might be 120, 000 Compostelas given out this year - and yours is one. Only 9000 started at Roncesvalles.
Stretched out behind you are a few million people who profess a yearning to walk el Camino (but never will) and many more millions who believe that they never could.
You are my hero!
