5 Game-Changing Alcohol-Free Insights From The 500-Mile Camino Way

Alcohol-Free Advantage Podcast with Andy Ramage

I did not think this would happen so quickly.

Not even a week into my 500-mile Camino walk across Spain.

And already, the game-changing insights are beginning to surface.

People walk the Camino for three reasons:

Forgiveness

Help

And thanks

I am here to give thanks for everything I have.

And I owe so much to one change!

I will say this for a fact.

Had I not quit alcohol, this adventure would NEVER have begun.

There was no time, energy or clarity.

I was stuck in survival mode.

This week, on the Camino, I was in thrivival mode (That’s not even a word, but you get what I mean)

As I walked, I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

I am grateful that my relationship with alcohol woke me up.

Woke me up to my authentic self.

And I am so grateful that it has done the same for so many others.

So this message is not too long.

I will cover two of the insights, and I save the BIG ones for my Alcohol-Free Advantage podcast.

Click the links below to listen to this week's conversation.

1. The hardest move in yoga is getting onto the mat.

It is the same for the Camino

It is the same for all our goals in life.

Once started, the adventure springs to life.

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can; begin it. Boldness has genius power and magic in it.” Goethe

But too many dreams and goals are never started.

They get pushed into the background, drowned by the busyness of life.

How many unfinished books lie dormant on laptops?

How many businesses never make it out of the pub?

How many meaningful careers never happen?

The secret, therefore, to the Camino and all our goals is the boldness to begin.

1. Stop worrying about the future

When you walk for hours without distractions, you hear your mind speaking.

And mostly what it says is fear-mongering nonsense.

A MAJOR insight for me already is that most of the noise in my head is about the future.

As I continuously remind my coaches and clients.

If it is in the future, it is made up.

It can’t be a fact.

All it is, at best, a best guess.

But it's never a good guess.

It is usually the worst possible imagined thing in the future.

It is the crash and burn scenario.

Well, that’s what I found in my brain.

I now understand what Mark Twain meant when he said,

“I am an old man who has known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened”

What a tremendous insight.

I know this is not new wisdom, but it was the first time I have EVER had this experience of hearing my brain so clearly that I saw it for what it is.

And now I will STOP trying to guess a made-up future.

And begin to live more in the present.

**

I am already in danger of becoming like Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses, when he says, “During the war…” and everyone rolls their eyes - here he goes again.

“When I was on the Camino….”

My takeaway from this first week is to get out into nature and turn off your phone.

And take your mind out for a long walk and see what you notice.

Until next week, Buen Camino.

Your Coach,

Andy