Crazy, Stupid, Brave

It was day 4, and I was hobbling along The Camino de Santiago with hikers rash, a burning sensation constantly rubbing against my walking boot. A family of five stopped next to me, took one look at me, and said in Spanish, "What do you need? We have plasters for blisters, tablets for pain, and antiseptic cream. What do you need?" I gratefully took one of their double dose of ibuprofen, and we began walking together through the dense Galician forest. The woman turned around to me, "are you walking alone?", "Yes," I replied matter-of-factly. Her eyes alarmed, "that's brave," "crazy more like," I smiled, "maybe a bit of both," her husband added cheekily. I had grossly underestimated what it took to do a pilgrimage, especially as someone considerably sedentary and a self-proclaimed hermit (aka introvert). I had booked the trip on a whim when I found myself overwhelmed by the relationships around me and the need to find space to breathe and be, but what I found on the journey was so much more than I could have possibly imagined.

I'd heard about the Camino de Santiago from my mum, an avid traveler that had wanted to do it for a long time and never got around to it. So while I'd known about it, I'd never had the impulse to research it, let alone do it. But after a session with my astrologer, who suggested that it was a great time to integrate some of the inner work I had been doing, I thought that partying in Tulum wasn't probably the best destination. So I looked into it and realised that there was a shorter walk, El Camino Ingles (The English Way), that would take five days and fit perfectly into the free week I had available on my calendar. Before my mind could convince me otherwise, I booked my flights. The week run-up was a blur and a bit of a scramble to buy literally every item I needed, from a shampoo bar to my sleeping bag. That was the level of unpreparedness I was confronted with. Luckily by the 7th of April, I was ready, packed, and boarding my flight to Santiago de Compostela.

I landed at 11pm and headed to my Airbnb. By midnight I was researching how I would get to the start of the Camino, Ferrol, which was about an hour's drive away. When I entered the trip in trusty Google, it threw up BlaBlaCar, a carpooling service. Something I'd known about but never tried, and well, I was on an adventure. I booked myself in with Ramon, a sophisticated man in a 4x4 who picked me up at the train station at 7:30 am. Ramon had just over 1,000 rides, and I soon found out he often transported pelegrinos (pilgrims) to the starting point on his way to work. We chatted about the walk, the weather, and, more importantly, where to eat upon my return. By 8:30 am, I was dropped off at Kilometro 0 in the pouring rain. I got out of the car and quickly began what would become a familiar dance, trying to tame my cheap rain cape (rookie mistake) amidst the strong gusts of wind. I bee-lined for the Camino office, collected my first Camino stamp for my Credential (aka your Camino passport), and got handed a map that got soaked and quickly disintegrated in my hands once I began walking.

I barely had anything to eat and wasn't carrying any food, so I stopped at a bakery for croissants, juice, and bottled water. I noticed a couple left just after me. Soon, we began crossing paths repeatedly, eventually becoming my official Camino family. Juan was a nursing student, and Lucia was a practicing nurse. We'd stay in different hotels and leave at different times in the morning, but we'd always cross each other on our walk and walk the rest of the day together. I had broken up my itinerary into six days instead of the standard five to make it easier, but by the time I got to my initial destination, I thought, I've still got energy; I'll just keep walking. I also liked walking with my Camino family, most of whom were doing it for five days. I went equipped to stay in albergues (public hostels), just for pelegrino's. Still, the introvert in me, exhausted from a 14km walk, thought there was no way in hell that I could engage in dialogue with another human being and booked myself into hotels as I went along.

On the evening of day one, I arrived at Pontedeume, and a sweet and caring older lady greeted me. When she checked me in, she exclaimed, "aww, you're a baby," when writing my date of birth down, my passport in hand. I got to the room, and I was instantly grateful I wasn't slumming it. Basic things like clean sheets, a hot shower, fluffy pillows felt like absolute luxury, and I was deep in gratitude. When I sat down to peel my wet clothes off and take my boots off, my feet were drenched and had been drenched for at least half of the day (I'll save you the image). I hopped in the most blissful shower and passed out incredibly early. The following day I woke up to crystal blue skies and sun. I went downstairs and was greeted by a feast of breakfast. One plate of food after another kept coming out until I jokingly said, "please stop feeding me, or my belly will weigh as much as my backpack." I felt overly cared for and strangely coddled. The beginning of what I didn't know yet would be the message the Camino would gift me.

Part 2 next week...

With love and care,

#AuthenticAlex

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Hi there, I'm Alex. If we haven't met before, nice to meet you, and thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter. If you enjoyed it, you can hit subscribe to be notified and if you liked it, feel free to like, share it with someone or add a comment. If you want to see some of my doodles and spoken word poetry, you can find me on Instagram , or you can also sign up for my?Authentic Alex newsletter .

About Alex:?At the age of 24 Alex found herself employed as the Head of Training and Development for a Foreign Exchange Company in The City. After experiencing her very own quarter-life crisis, she decided to leave the corporate world and create her own definition of success. On the day she left that job she wrote a post that went viral on LinkedIn.

Since then she’s been named LinkedIn Top Voice UK twice for her mental health and personal growth content and has become an official LinkedIn Learning Instructor. She's also the co-founder of #LinkedInLocal, a global movement creating communities in over 100 countries and 1,000 cities.

She’s best known for blogging under the hashtag #AuthenticAlex where she smashes one stigma at a time and writes about her therapy journey with the aim of inspiring others to transform their traumas into triumphs.

She now helps businesses grow their presence, find their sense of purpose, awaken their creativity and tell their stories. You can find out more about her here .