{"id":2834,"date":"2019-11-04T08:59:52","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T12:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesheet.dovico.com\/blog\/?p=2834"},"modified":"2019-12-23T14:35:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T18:35:00","slug":"walking-the-camino-de-santiago-wendys-courage-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesheet.dovico.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/04\/walking-the-camino-de-santiago-wendys-courage-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking the Camino de Santiago: Wendy’s Courage Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imagine going on a trip, solo, to a foreign country, then hiking 110 kilometres (68 miles) over six days, sometimes in the middle of nowhere with strangers from all over the world. Our very courageous Wendy Leblanc did just that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wendy is Dovico’s international product and implementation specialist<\/a>, who you most likely have come into contact with if you did any timesheet business with us outside of North America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where did Wendy go?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Wendy took advantage of Dovico’s Courage Program<\/a>, and lined up a trip to Spain to walk the “Camino de Santiago<\/strong>,” also known as the “Way of Saint James<\/strong>.” The Camino de Santiago<\/a> is a network of pilgrimage routes that leads up to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world walk the many routes as a retreat for spiritual growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wendy selected the Way of St. James as her courage program exercise to challenge her mind, soul and body. By walking 110 kilometres along one of the most spiritual paths on the planet, often completely by herself, certainly met each of those challenges. It’s such a courageous journey! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wendy walked 110 KMs from Astorga (red arrow) to Santiago de Compostela (blue arrow)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Riding Solo to the Camino<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The courageous part of Wendy’s journey was navigating the entire trip by herself. Wendy and her husband, Andre, travel many times a year to various places all over the world<\/a>, so she is no travelling rookie. But by going solo for the first time, Wendy was nervous about taking this trip on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of navigating the various airports, bus trips, and understanding the Camino route, Wendy also was concerned about the mountainous terrain and temperature. “I had been training for a while by doing lots of walking, but I was worried about the heat and mountains in Spain that we don’t have either of too much here for training,<\/em>” said Wendy of her concerns once she got there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wendy’s best experiences from her journey came from meeting the various pilgrims walking the trail. Along the route, Wendy walked alongside a lady in her 80’s as well as a Catholic school grade 5 class from Spain. While talking to these international strangers, she understood that everyone had a different purpose for being there. Some were walking along for spiritual guidance and for others, curiosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A lesson in patience and slowing time down<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Aside from the confidence that her courageous journey had given her, Wendy learned a valuable lesson on time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By default, Wendy is a morning person. Because many of the Dovico clients she serves are many time zones ahead, her day starts much earlier than most others in the office. So, waiting until 9 AM to begin her Camino walk each morning felt like forever! Like an excited child on Christmas morning, she was itching to get going much earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Wendy’s journey continued, she realized her walk along the Camino was not a race, and neither is her life. Having that alone time to think and walk over 20 kilometres a day, Wendy’s perspective on time changed. She realized time only goes as fast as we do and ultimately we control how quickly we go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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