Two months ago, I had no idea what the Camino de Santiago was.
But one April day while scrolling endlessly through a sea of TikTok profiles, I saw some people talking about walking this Camino. I saw before and after videos, then I was hooked. I had to know more about this walk.
A pilgrimage, everyone was saying. I typed Camino de Santiago into my TikTok search bar and found a countless amount of people talking about it. Something in me said I needed to go. I need to do this. I don’t know what it was; I have never felt a pull so fast.
Within days of me seeing the TikToks, I made my own with the on-screen text saying “Me: Disabled, fat, walking with my dog 10 minutes telling myself I can definitely walk the Camino de Santiago.”
I’m not religious although, when I was younger, I occasionally accompanied my grandma to her church on Sundays. At best, I’d say I consider myself to be spiritual; I believe there has to be something bigger than us, I just don’t know if it’s that one all-knowing being. Could be something different or nothing at all.
The camino will be letting life just happen and go with a flow I have never been able to before. I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to control the uncontrollable and feeling like I need to be really good at everything in my life, even when I wasn’t.
published originally on my Substack in May 2026
published on Medium in May 2026
