
ENGLISH
This week I completed the 705km pilgrimage from Pamplona to Santiago de Compostela along the famous “Camino de Santiago” in Spain (Camino Francés). Following Paulo Coelho’s tips in his book “The Pilgrim” (“O Diário de um Mago”), I was in search of my sword: directions for a new life and career transition.
I came from an extremely successful career, starting as an entrepreneur, becoming a partner and important manager of one of the first Brazilian unicorns. I became an executive exposed to major processes of mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and finally the integration of companies on a global level. Almost 1 year ago, I discovered that I was no longer happy with my job. I saw that my dreams, my way of working, my willingness to build big companies that positively impact people and our employees was no longer the same. With that, I decided to leave my job last year and rethink life.
In the 30 days of the journey, I found much more than the answers I was looking for.

To make the “Camino” you need a purpose. Without purpose, you give up in the first week as soon as the body feels the pain, and believe me, they arrive strong. My purpose was to complete the journey and learn lessons from it as keys to finding my answers to life’s problems, and that pushed me to Santiago. To get there you have to have faith, you have to believe in something bigger than just walking 700km. It is necessary to ask God, to the Force, to the Energy that governs the Universe, to push you forward and to show you the answers, the miracles.
In the “Camino” you see miracles happening all the time, just need to be aware of them. Miracles come from people, conversations, scenes, and nature. You understand that you are part of something bigger, and you connect and adapt to that. You feel cold, heat, you fight against the wind and thank the breeze. You fear for the rain and feel grateful for the drizzle. You dodge the rocks on the way down and look for them in the fight against the mud on the way up.
To make the “Camino” it is necessary to be vulnerable, open, available. In the “Camino” you meet amazing people, some become friends for life, others are friends for a lifetime. In the “Camino” everyone cares about everyone else, in the purest sense, and everyone helps each other. In the “Camino”, you learn the importance of accepting help, and feel filled with joy when someone wishes you a simple “Good morning!”, or a “Buen camino!” and pushes you forward. In the “Camino” everyone is equal, from the student to the successful businessman, everyone walks in the same direction (practically everyone) with very similar goals.
To make the “Camino” it is necessary to understand the value of going slowly to go far. It is necessary to control the anxiety of arriving soon, because you quickly learn that anxiety and haste are your enemies. In the “Camino” you are forced to detox from the speed of the world.
To make the “Camino” it is necessary to re-learn to value the simple. It’s being happy when arriving in a village with less than 50 inhabitants, it’s loving finding a bed, no matter what’s around it, it’s feeling pleasure sitting on the floor, it’s indulging in simple and delicious food, it’s enjoying wine of the house included in the meals, and indulge in the wonderful breads and orange juices of the small Spanish villages. It’s learning the value of silence and conversation, each one at their own moment.
Walking the “Camino” is relearning how to live, it’s looking in the mirror, it’s learning to smile in pain, it’s wishing the animals good morning, it’s hugging a friend on arrival, it’s finding God again and discovering that we are slugs in the immensity of his creation. It’s traveling inside you, looking for your answers inside your heart, and discovering what’s really important in life.
Buen Camino!!!