Camino-blues: some ideas to cheer you up

When few pilgrims head off to Santiago in winter, most are left to dream about the Camino. Often after one returns, nostalgia invites itself and some grim Camino-blues settles in. A feeling that truly is no fun…

So, what to do when clouds cloak your stars? Here are some ideas to lift your spirit and put a smile back on your face!

Of course, ideally, the pilgrims arrive in Santiago, go back home and happily go on with their lives. However… if it were true, we’d know! Who never felt blue about the Camino? So, even if the objective is to return to “normal” life and to integrate the experience of the pilgrimage into it, relapse a bit into the Camino can be good for your spirit! And so, there’s no time to waste! Pick an idea and put it into practice 🙂

• Be depressed. A bit, which is normal. But don’t wallow in that mood…
• Give yourself time and be nice to yourself!
• Turn to your scallop
• Think of Saint James and talk to him
• Get all your hiking gears out of their closet. Then, eventually…
• … sort them out and improve your pack
• Consequently, spend hours discovering the 1001 hiking stuff that exist (and twice as much dissecting comparative charts)
• Admire the pictures of your past Camino(s)
• Decide, at last, to make album out of them
• Daydream about all the good and not-as-good moments you had
• For old-school pilgrims, relive your journey on a real map
• For high-tech pilgrims, same. But on screen.
• Read pilgrimage testimonies, fiction stories and other books dedicated to the Camino
• Skim over coffe-table books about the Way and find out where the pictures were taken (without checking captions)
• Spend hours researching and (re)discovering the surprising (and true) History of Saint James, of Santiago, of the pilgrimage, of the Ways
• Lazily watch movies about the Camino. Or documentaries.
• Hang around on websites dedicated to the Way
• Meet again pilgrims you know, for real
• Meet again pilgrims you know, on social medias (for the anti-SM, send them mails. Or call them!)
• Meet local pilgrims at meeting of the local association of the Camino
• Meet pilgrims from everywhere on forums and online communities
• Rush out to buy escabeche mussels at the nearest grocery store. Or chorizo. Or Rioja wine.
• Go out to eat at the nearest Spanish restaurant (DON’T ask for a Menu del peregrino!)
• With all your determination, get the octopus out of the freezer, beat it and boil it to scare it and eat it with no pity. Of course, end your meal with a tart of Saint James.
• Put your boots on and go out for a stroll
• For lack of wide-open spaces, take refuge in the nearby park
• Prefer wide-open spaces, actually, as they’re so much better!
• Decide to go hiking for a whole week-end. Or 1 week. Or 2.
• Prepare your next Camino
• After wondering why wait, (re)pack up and (re)hit the road!
• …

Phew, it does me good… And I already feel loads better!

And you? What do you do when the Camino-blues catches you (again)? 😉