I’ve had a lot of reactions on my last post. Not everyone understood what I meant correctly, so let me clarify myself in short.
Before I reached Vienna, returning home would feel as failure. It just was no option for me. Now, after Vienna and all the thoughts I wrote about in my last post, returning home would not feel as a failure anymore. I feel the freedom to return home with my head held high. This does not mean I will stop walking now or next week necessarily. I will walk as long as I feel too. This thought gives me even more freedom in my walking.
I’m not feeling sad or depressed in any way. The problem I have is a luxury problem. That’s all. Sorry for being unclear with you!
Tonight I sleep in a tent at a Roman amphitheatre, great stuff!
Never slept at a place like this!
Namaskar Thomas
When I was walking last year, pushing myself mercilessly to walk by the book and ending up with an ankle injury that then prompted a major inner and outer review, it came to me in the midst of all the mental back and forth and up and down that it really did not matter whether I finished walking or not because it was not about that. It did not matter if I walked to Santiago or walked to the nearest bus to go to the airport. At last I could see that it was not about any of that. I cannot explain it but I suspect you get what I am trying to say. It is not about the thing, it is about you. I am enjoying following your journey – the external and what you share of your inner journey. I rejoice for you as I continue to look forward to your updates. Continue to embrace it all.
With love
Aarti
Hi Thomas,
Sometimes it’s funny that reading a single sentence reminds you to someone. After visiting a church wedding last Friday I noticed a note on the bulletin board hanging next to the entrance of the church. Here stood : “Do not go where the path leads you, but go where there is no path and leave your own trail.” And I thought, “Yes, that’s exactly what Thomas is doing right now.” This moment of reading the note felt like the right time than to send you a message to encourage you on your trip to Istanbul. But because Maartje and I already had our car ready and fully packed for a weekend in the Belgium Ardennes with friends, this massage had to wait until now. I’m glad to hear that you have passed Vienna. Your first goal and roughly a third of your trip. And remember what I told you: “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.”
Greetings, Cristian