Walked the Camino de Santiago over 30 days as the culmination of a two-month solo journey across Europe — an education in endurance, self-reliance, and presence.
At the end of a two-month solo journey across Europe, I walked the Camino de Santiago — roughly 500 miles across northern Spain, on foot, over 30 consecutive days.
Endurance — a long objective that cannot be rushed, only walked. Progress arrives one day at a time or not at all — the same compounding logic that governs capital, skill, and trust.
Self-reliance — every day's food, lodging, navigation, and recovery was my own problem to solve, in a language and country not my own.
Cross-cultural communication — the Camino gathers people from every continent. A month of shared tables and shared roads is a practical education in reading people across language and custom.
Presence — with no schedule but the road, attention returns to what is actually in front of you. That capacity transfers directly to analytical work: seeing what is there, rather than what you expected.
Professional judgment is built partly from unusual inputs. A month of sustained, self-directed effort across a foreign country is a different kind of credential — evidence of the ability to commit to a long objective, adapt daily, and finish.
