Following the yellow arrows....in life as on the Camino

Sarria, Spain street marker

Finding your way on any route of the Camino is fairly simple. You follow the yellow arrows and shells toward Santiago.  Sometimes the markers are a little less clear, but by seeing them you know you are on the right path.
If only life was that simple.

There are times in life when you do feel that you are on the right path, going the right way and doing all the things you are "suppose" to be doing. Perhaps its the family and career, the house and such.   Then something happens and it catapults you on a different road. Sometimes its a slight change of direction which brings new excitement and breaths new life into your existence. 

Way marker Augsburg Germany

Then there are those times when it seems as if the rug was pulled out from under you and you have no real direction.  There are many stories I've read where it was those circumstances that brought people to the Camino. Following the yellow arrow to find their new life path, their new way.

When I went on my first Camino, it was more of the slight shift in my life. A new experience, and I felt called to walk it.  When I went with my sister, once again I felt called to take her, to help her fulfill her dream of walking the way.

Since those times my life has taken many turns.  I now face a blank sheet of paper where I could really do whatever I want to do.  All I want to do it walk the Camino.  Perhaps it is knowing that everyday you have direction to follow. Yellow arrows helping you along the way.  Perhaps I need to look at life goals as yellow arrow, 
helping to keep me on my way.  Perhaps the camino is that safe place to go to
find oneself. 

Camino 2016

They say what you focus on is what you get in life. From today on I will be focusing on the positive in my life and doing my best to look forward.  Taking the lessons of the Camino and applying them to my everyday life. 

Lesson 1: keep moving forward.....learn from the past but keep your eye on the future.   On the Camino most peoples goal or focus is on getting to Santiago. There are others goals depending on their time on the Camino, but the focus is to that goal.  Once we climb the Pyrenees we don't agonize over how hard or difficult it was. We rejoice that we accomplished that bit. We learn from mistakes made perhaps on socks or not drinking enough water etc. But we do not let what happened that day deter us from continuing on to our next town, our next goal.....Santiago.

So in life I need to be grateful for the lessons I've learned along the way, and to find my new route and remain focus on that next adventure, while enjoying where I am at. 

My focus will be returning to the Camino,  my travel business and how I can combine my love of both travel and the camino, and being financially independent.

Buen Camino!

A lapse of time....yet again.

It is hard to believe it was a year ago when I last wrote here.  For my readers, my apologies.  I was all ready to write and relay my story and then I wanted to get the ok from my sister to use her name.  Then I did not hear back and as so often in life, other things seemed to take priority. 

The year has been filled with a lot of ups and down. In June my daughter Audrey, her children and I moved from South Carolina to Texas, where my other daughter Jessie and her family are.  So as with any move we had the job of going through our things and downsizing.  The task reminded me a lot of packing for a Camino. What do we need, what can we live without.  With those items we could live with out we sold to help pay for the move.

Once moved we had the task of finding work and settling in.  Also in June shortly after we moved my sister Donna, the one I did the Camino with, yes I used her name, was hospitalized with diabetic complications. I rushed to Denver to be with her family during that time.  Thankfully she has recovered, but its been a long road.

Back in Texas I got a job and settled into that routing. My health seemed to take a turn for the worst. My leg seem to not want to work, making it hard to move and stand let alone walk. Then I realized resting them was no good either. With the not walking like I used to, my 3 miles a day, and not moving I put on weight.  So now with extra weight makes it harder to move, leading to depression, leading to....well you get the picture. Such a viscous circle.

I started to think of what I want to do with my life, where I want to go. With that came a look at a project I was working on last year, a Camino Journal, more on this later.  With my daughters help we began  to put the finishing touches on the journal. That sparked the fire in me once again to want to go back.   Funny thing the more positive I thought about the journal and a possible trip back, my body has been feeling better. It helps with the warmer weather as well. I am not able to move more with less pain.  All of this helps my spirit and brings my focus back to here.

I see now that when I lost my focus and my way.....things went downhill.  So now with the renewed hope the Easter season brings, I have renewed hope and faith for my continuing Camino journey.

More to come......soon this time.