I think walking the Camino de Santiago has always been an irrational act…

It’s definitely irrational from my perspective; that of a middle-aged, middle-class, American male.

Why irrational?

• It takes a long time, 30 to 45 days on the most popular route (Camino Frances). Most of us can’t take a month and a half off of work, or away from family and responsibilities.
• This pilgrimage is a walk, 500 miles in mountains, over the plains, along the highways and by-ways of Spain. It’s a beautiful place and certainly worth seeing but there are many more efficient modes of transport than walking.
• There is a good chance you will be injured on the walk. Why use your hard-earned vacation time to develop chronic shin splints, infected blisters the size of golf balls, muscle aches, joint pain, and probably a few bed bug bites along the way?
• Then there is a good chance the outcome will not be what you expected. You might arrive in Santiago de Compostela AND FIND NOTHING HAS CHANGED WITH YOU save a few callouses, rock-hard calves and a new found love for chilled red wine.

A pilgrimage walk on the Camino de Santiago is an irrational act.

And that’s why you should do it.

We need more people willing to step out of the rat race-mundane-status quo just for the chance to do something irrational. Maybe the first step to victory is to recognize there is more to life than the rat race-mundane-status quo that others have convinced you is the key to successful living…