Emily Tucker- Walking Alone

     It was really cool to hear from the guest speaker, Christiana, in class and her experience walking the Camino de Santiago. One thing that stood out to me in particular was the difference between the first time she walked it and the second. She mentioned how the first time she walked she ended up in a group of people, and they all walked together most of the way. However, when she went back the second time, she walked mostly alone. She explained how it was much harder the second time, to walk alone pasts the places that she had been so happy at the last time she was there. Nevertheless, it taught her an important lesson that sometimes, you have to learn to walk alone. The second time she walked the Camino, she faced a different interior journey than she had the first time. After coming home from the first pilgrimage, she knew she had to go back because her story wasn't finished. By finishing the walk the second time alone, she proved to herself that she could do the "impossible". 

    The important lesson learned from this is that of the importance of walking our own journey, not someone else's. In class, we discussed this idea through the analogy of "paint-by-numbers". Some people go through life exactly by the instructions, painting each number the color it is designated, staying in the lines drawn by others. However, sometimes the only way to learn who you are and what you believe is by straying away from the "paint-by-numbers" mentality and forging your own path. It is the scarier path because so often it means walking alone, but it is in those moments that you prove to yourself that you are capable of achieving things on your own. 

    Are some people just naturally more inclined to follow the "paint-by-numbers", while others naturally want to create their own way of doing things? I feel as though I have always been a "paint-by-numbers" type of person. Anything outside of the rules and status quo scares me. The question is, does following "paint-by-numbers" exactly make you a "good person", or just a boring one?  Is the "straight and narrow" path discussed in Pilgrim's Progress always the best path? Or can you learn vital lessons from going outside of the lines? I guess by walking your journey alone, you are able to learn lessons you wouldn't otherwise have, had you walked the same path in a group. 

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