monday question

When I was in fifth grade, I had a teacher who taught me more about the world than any other educator. Each week she would present us with a new “Monday question”. The idea of these weekly projects was to expose her students to everything that this world has to offer. Every Monday, my teacher would pull out a giant poster with our topic for the week. It was always something majestic in the world: a seven wonder, or historic temple, a spiritual mountain, an old cathedral, etc. something that was significant at some point in history and therefore is still meaningful today. Other than my grandparents, this was probably the biggest impact on my desire to travel and experience the world, making it feel so ginormous and equally accessible to a young ten year old girl.

I still have that stuffed and protruding yellow notebook with “Monday Question—YAY!” scrawled across the front page. It is filled with wonders of the world, both small and large. Photos are glued to the pages and my endless lists of fun facts carry to the very last page. This was my favorite part of the week when I was that age, and I still think about it to this day. At the end of fifth grade I vowed to travel to all of these places, to see absolutely everything I could. And now that I’m twenty seven, I have been to at least one third of the wonders within my Monday question notebook. I have seen more than I ever would have if not for my fifth grade teacher’s excitement in every beauty this world has within it.

Now, I’m on a really long walk. I mean like really long. El Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage that is centuries and centuries old. It has hosted more people than any pilgrimage in history over the course of time. Over the years, the purpose of the Camino has changed, yet it’s always been a spiritual experience at it’s core. I think it silly to walk almost one thousand kilometers across northern Spain, through vineyards and ancient cities, and not view it as a spiritual experience.

I’ve been wanting to do a thru hike for a while, yet the ones in America seemed too stressful and lonely to me. El Camino focuses on and nourishes a sense of community. It’s goal is to provide you with the space and the energy that allows you to notice your own self and choose it. And beyond that, to develop the ability to enrich your experience through the people on the path with you, all discovering something new about oneself.

I find the simple act of walking to be quite spiritual in and of itself. It is deeply meditative to only have to put one foot in front of the other on a path that’s been set out for you. The feet that have traipsed these trails before me brings me to my knees. It leaves me in complete awe of humans and their capacity to wake up and choose life. To walk one thousand kilometers across multiple countries is batshit crazy, yet there must be something powerful enough in these steps that continues to draw people to these dirt grounds. And gosh, am I grateful to be one of them.