Camino Bill is learning.

I was planning on walking about 17-18 miles today. As I approached what I thought was the finish, I realized I made a mistake and had 3 more miles to go.

Then as I got to my finishing town, I realized my hotel was another half mile out of town in the boonies, and was basically an old run down looking farmhouse.

These types of problems happened to me several times earlier on the Camino, and each time I reacted poorly, only to have a great experience emerge anyway. My pessimism ruined parts of several days, when it didn’t have to.

Not today. When I first learned of my error, I was all by myself on a country road in the middle of nowhere. I sort of shrugged my shoulders and thought to myself… you can do this.

Then when the lodging looked poor, I thought to myself… Give it a chance. It will be fine.

Who is this guy? No complaining? No grousing?

Sure enough things did turn out great. The farmhouse was lovely and my friends Eduardo, Wilfredo and Lucy were staying there too! What a pleasant surprise. And tonight we get a home cooked meal!

Funny, I think most people would call me a positive person but the Camino has shown me I have a nasty pessimistic streak. Today, I overcame that. We’ll see if I can take that skill back home with me.

Camino Wisdom #3: Don’t let your inner-pessimist make a situation worse. Often there is something good just around the corner if you can just work through it.