How traveling alone has taught me that humans are made of pure magic. 

Some of my Camino Family celebrating our arrival in Santiago

This is week seven on my solo journey and I’m currently hopping busses through Portugal on my way to Morocco. I finished the Camino last week and the vibe is strange. For 44 days I knew exactly what I was going to do: get up and walk, wash my clothes in the sink, and go to sleep. Reflecting on those 6 weeks of walking is going to have to come in stages. 
After a perfect reunion dinner
My Camino parents

Regardless of where I go, or what I’m doing, the one thing that continues to ring true is this: People. Are. Good. All of them. Sometimes it’s been buried under a heap of heaviness, but it’s in there. 

 *(Literally while writing the previous sentence someone challenged this thought so blatantly. I’ll elaborate later.) 

Mia made Porto feel like home!

Every time I start to question this human goodness someone lets me use their phone charger, tells me I’m welcome in their home if I ever visit their city, invites me to join their table when they see I’m eating alone, goes for a morning run with me in streets we’ve never walked, gives me directions to the clutch laundry mat, (this list is infinite). 

Emily and Steve pushed me all the way through an “SOS weather event” to Finisterre!

There have been countless times on this journey that a 30 second interaction with another human has brought me enough joy and magic to push through another 24 hours, solely through the energy provided by their goodness. Through other people’s selflessness, I am constantly being reminded of the power that I have to impact another person’s day. No matter how tired I am, no matter how frustrated I may be, I do not want to pass up an opportunity to recycle the endless joy that has been so freely given to me. 

Where it all started 🙂

After not seeing each other for weeks, I spotted her shell in Portugal and realized we had walked together. This hug gave me so much energy!

People are going to be filled with an energy after interacting with you. You can either leave people feeling valued and heard, or neutral/worse. Don’t pass up on these opportunities. The most renewable resource that we can access is the magic floating out of everyone on this planet. The only way we can keep it flowing is by passing it on. Maximize every opportunity you have to reuse and recycle the magic that others send your way. Thank you, thank you, for all of the magic that you’ve given to me!

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