Effort is said to be the foundation of accomplishment. Without it, we cannot achieve anything truly worthwhile. On this journey, I’ve encountered challenges that test the depth of my determination every single day.
Pushing through exhaustion to make it up another hill. Managing sore muscles, aching feet, and nerve pain just to complete the next stage of the pilgrimage (But not without some whining). Mentally preparing for rain, wind, and difficult weather before the day even begins.
The Camino has a way of compressing everything down to this: progress only happens when you keep moving forward. You never grow without challenges. It’s what you do with them that determines who you become.
My grandmother once said something to me that stayed with me my entire life. I was in Engineering school at the time, raising three children, overwhelmed and complaining about how hard everything felt. She looked at me with her beautiful blue eyes and said,
“Youngin… if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”
I didn’t fully understand the weight of those words back then. I do now.
The difficult things in life are often the ones most worth doing. They demand effort, sacrifice, perseverance, and grit. The Camino is no different. The reward is indescribable. With every difficult step, I grow stronger. More resilient. More determined.
Because in the end, the goal is not simply reaching Santiago. It’s proving that I am capable of continuing when things became uncomfortable, exhausting, and hard.
That is what effort looks like. And that is what makes completing of the Camino meaningful.