Against All Odds: My Journey to Strength on the Camino de Santiago

  I was thinking a lot about it and then this moment popped up in my mind… It is still a moment that marks me and when I think I can't achieve something again I think about that.

  I hope you like it and it helps other women fight for their goals, no matter what!

  My Story of Female Empowerment: Walking Against All Odds

  When I was 19, I had a body that felt like my enemy… I had a chronic illness that drained my strength, and after a year of deep depression (with no illusion or passion about life), I felt like a shadow of myself. I really lost my faith, not just in my health, but in my ability to live fully.

  Then, an idea took root in my mind: I would walk the Camino de Santiago. I couldn’t do the entire route, but I decided to start 300 km before the final destination. A 300 km pilgrimage across Spain, step by step. It sounded impossible, even foolish. Everyone around me thought so. “You won’t make it past the second day!,” my friends said. I couldn’t blame them because I had once been in a wheelchair and I was famous of being sick at that time... How could I possibly walk hundreds of kilometers alone?

  But something inside me refused to listen. I had spent too long being told what I couldn’t do. This time, I would decide for myself.

  I set off alone, fear gripping my chest. The first days were harder than I could have imagined. My body screamed in pain, and doubt whispered at every step. On the fourth day, exhaustion broke me. I collapsed onto the ground, exhausted and ached, convinced that I had reached my limit…the words of my friends started to pop up in my mind and u thought I could not reach my dream…

  But while I was sitting there, I realized something: If I stopped now, I would prove everyone right, and I wasn’t ready to do that!

  So I wiped my tears, pushed myself up, and took another step. And then another.

  Every day after that was a battle, but I kept walking. 30 kilometers at a time, getting up at 5am, me, my big heavy backpack, my stick and nothing else. With every step, I wasn’t just moving forward, I was reclaiming my power. My body, once my prison, became my strength. My mind, once filled with doubt, grew louder with determination. “Breathe, breathe, breathe, you can get it!”

  When I finally arrived at the Cathedral of Santiago, I couldn’t believe it… I stood in the very place where I had once sat in a wheelchair few years ago. But this time, I was standing, walking but myself. My body hurt a lot, my heart raced, and I could not stop crying…out of pride, out of the overwhelming realization that I had done the impossible.

  I had walked against the odds. Against illness. Against doubt. Against every voice that had told me I couldn’t.

  I got the “Compostela”, I got my goal.

  That day, I didn’t just reach Santiago. I could reach a version of myself I never thought I would find: strong, determined, and unstoppable.

Ly A.