Author Nicole Lim with her mum on the Camino Trail

Eat, sleep, hike, repeat. This was Nicole Lim’s rigid routine for nine days. No small feat for someone who’d never hiked before and who generally prefers her holidays with room service and under 10,000 steps a day. But the payoff? Inner stillness…

 

In her sixty-fifth year my Catholic mother suggested we take on the Camino de Santiago together – a historic network of pilgrimage routes across Europe converging at Santiago de Compostela, a Galician town in northwestern Spain.

Although not particularly religious myself, in dutiful daughter fashion, I agreed to tag along. What did I have to lose spending a few days in nature with my best friend, surrounded by rolling hills and fresh air? The timing was perfect. I’d just left my full-time job in marketing at an investment management firm in London.

As first-timers and pragmatists, we chose to tackle the final stretch of the Camino Francés in France, one of nearly 300 scenic hiking routes popular for being part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Very quickly, we discovered the holy trinity of hiking success: weather, terrain, gear.

It poured for the first few days. Ponchos or not, hours in the rain left us soaked to the skin. Weather, in turn, affects terrain, as walking on muddy trails is considerably more challenging than walking on damp asphalt roads. Throw in inappropriate gear and you hit the trifecta. My trainers met their soggy demise by day three. Divine intervention came in the form of a local store selling waterproof hiking shoes.

By day four, the skies showed mercy. Sunshine made everything better: our pace, our moods and our desire to chat with fellow pilgrims of all ages, nationalities from all across the world.

Over time, seeing familiar faces at rest stops became oddly comforting. Whenever we passed one another we’d exchange the traditional greeting, “Buen Camino!”, which translates as “Good way!” This cheerful phrase often served as a reminder that we were in this together; sore knees, soaked feet and all.

As a newly ‘funemployed’ millennial, I embarked on the Camino without purpose or expectations. But the road has its way of taking you back to basics. You learn not to carry more than you can bear, physically and metaphorically.

You start to appreciate the simple things in life. After a long, gruelling hike, nothing tastes quite as delicious as a hearty white bean soup homemade by our lovely Spanish hosts. And little compares to the bliss of a soft mattress when your body is on the brink of collapse.

Since returning to London I’ve been feeling a little more emboldened with proof that I can face things I once thought were beyond me, be it leaving the comforts of my stable job or conquering seventy miles on foot with lower back pain.

The trip taught me one of life’s greatest lessons – that inner stillness comes from being content with who I am and what I have. And there was no better person to go on this journey with than my mum.

Until my next adventure, I’ll be holding on to the inner stillness I found somewhere along the trail, and channelling that spirit into a new chapter: helping organisations tell their sustainability and impact stories as a freelance writer.  May we each find our own way in this world – with a little courage, a little grace, and a whole lot of gratitude.

Nicole Lim, Content Writer

Website: https://www.nicole-lim.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-lim-cfa/

Nicole has over eleven years of experience working in the investment management industry as an equity specialist and product marketer. She has a strong technical background and a deep practical understanding of sustainability and impact from an investor’s lens. Now, she helps organisations tell their stories through her writing. She is a CFA Charterholder and holds both the Sustainable Investing Certificate and the Certificate in Climate and Investing, as well as a BSc (Hons) in Economics from the University of Bath.

Nicole took our Introduction to Copywriting course with Maggie Richards. To book onto the next iteration of this course, visit our course page HERE.

For more information about all our short writing courses, why not register for our free virtual open evening which will take place on September 18. Register HERE.