A friend was sharing that he had been walking a lot these last days.

For some years now he has been on a pilgrimage.

Since the 1990’s a lot of people got back into the habit of walking the “Camino de Santiago”. The journey can start almost everywhere in Europe as there is a vast network of way’s pilgrims can use. Their idea is to reach the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain where it is said that the remains of the apostle Saint James the Great are buried.

One of the options is to start somewhere in Europe and then to walk as far as possible within the time given. My friend has done this for some years now. Every year he comes back to his journey where he left of the year before and continues from there.

I asked him if the walking he had been doing these last days was there to prepare himself for his pilgrimage.

His answer made me think about how we align ourselves with our expectations and the work we can do.

He shared that it was not possible to prepare oneself for the pilgrimage. Yes, he can do something to be more or less trained and thus more or less able to walk. But as trained as he can be, the first three days always remain difficult.

The body has to get used to a new rhythm. Walking all day requires our body to adapt to a different routine and different type of effort.

His experience on the way to Compostela taught him that the beginning is uncomfortable. Getting into a comfortable routine has always taken him three days.