The week before I started El Camino I attended a work barbecue where someone asked me “Why do you like to hike?”
I didn’t have a good answer. I can’t remember what I said; probably something trite and boring. However, I have been thinking a lot about this question and if I could have a conversational do-over my answer would be gratitude.
Walking long distances or hiking is like a gigantic gratitude reset button for life. So many self help books and happiness experts instruct individuals to think of at least three things that they are grateful for and in order to promote happiness. Many of the experts advise individuals to write these gratitude items down prior to going to bed. I have been walking El Camino and I can think of so many things that I am grateful for. I am constantly reminded of the many luxuries that are in my life while I am spending an extended time living simply.
For example, I am grateful that I own both a washer machine and a dryer. I am grateful for shampoo and conditioner. I have washed my hair for three weeks with bar soap and it feels gross. I am grateful for Q-tips (I just used my last one a few days ago). I am grateful for fluffy towels instead of the squeegee type quick dry mountain towel that I have. I am grateful for a bed with sheets. Crisp Egyptian cotton high thread count sheets. I am grateful for the variety of food that is available to me in my neighborhood within walking distance. Thai, Mexican, Indian (I love the spicy combinations). I am grateful for my friends and family that I am missing.
The initial gratitude list might make it seem like I am not grateful on El Camino and that I am just waiting to get home to my luxuries, but that is not quite true (although I am starting to look forward to home). I am so grateful for my time on El Camino. Time that is free from distractions. Time for prayer. Time for meditation and reflection. Time to listen for answers to prayers. The quiet that allows me to hear my thoughts and to hear the answers that I already have inside of me but that often get drown out by various noise and distractions. Time to contemplate the amount of life around me, touch the grass, rub the dill or mint, hear the birds, smell the earth.
I am grateful for the fellow pilgrims that I met. I am grateful that my fellow pilgrims also had time. These people taught me, listened to me, helped me with an unhurried grace. The quality of the conversations that can unfold when there are no distractions and there is ample time is immense, perhaps priceless. To have someone share what is in their heart is such a gift. Here on El Camino I am not too busy to receive these moments.
I am grateful for realizing how little I really need. Knowing what are luxuries instead of necessities is powerful. And then I began to see the luxury in the necessity. How delicious the meals were when I was truly hungry. How wonderful the squeaky bed felt when I was truly tired. How welcome was some shade when the sun beat down unrelenting, but equally welcome was a break in the rain when I was completely wet.
So the answer is gratitude. Walking makes me feel grateful, and I suspect it will continue to do so, so I take one step and then another and then thousands or maybe even millions more. And perhaps the so-called experts are right, that gratitude promotes happiness, because that is how I feel.