I would like to say

I would so much like to say there had been other days like the one in Manziana since then. But the certainty I had that day was difficult to receive in everyday life after that.

So when the inner voice said that day, it would be difficult to find accomodation, I was laughing a bit incredulously, since that would be a first one, no other day since then had this been a problem. But at the same time I also knew that it would be like it had been told.

Arriving in Manziana, the only place that could be considered was fully booked. Asking, what I should do next, the answer was „wait“.

This was the most frequent reply to everything. Wait. While you could think, this was to constrain your possibilities, I now know that everything had already been sorted out. The „wait“ just meant, you have nothing to do, we will take care.

Ten minutes later, help arrived.

The most perfect day

If someone asks me today, what was your most perfect day, I will always respond: the day in Manziana.

If I should sum up everything that life wanted to show me, I will still refer to that day and everything it was about. After a long night lying awake listening to Italian life and liveliness, annoyed of that place at that time, everything turned out to be just the right thing to happen.

Leaving. That was everything I wanted then. Calming down. Not overexcercise. Slowly. Not doing too much.

I was so happy after a while. Walking. Alone. Through olive trees – thousands of years old, it seemed. Being told to calm down. To acknowledge their age. And their wisdom.

I was well advised to listen.

What I really found was God

What I really found, walking, was God.

Unexpected, maybe. Maybe sought for.

In the end it was clear, where that inner voice was leading to. Guidance, protection, a real conversation. You just had to listen. That was, why it had to be only me.

Alone. Most people reject it. Mere convention tells us, this is something we don’t want. But honestly, is that true? Don’t we sometimes need help above everything, the people we know can provide? Aren’t we all looking for divine advice sometimes in our lives?

So why not be honest.

This was mine

Being asked, what I intended with walking 900 km through Italy, the only thing I could answer was: I am looking for self-esteem.

Walking, alone, without a further plan than what the next stop at the end of the day might be made me vulnerable and also left me sometimes in need of help.

These were my happiest insights. That help is almost always provided by complete strangers on the way, if you ask for it. You are just lacking trust to ask at home.

And above this. Everything else was a lack in loving myself – my injuries had nothing to do with others.

First steps

These first steps were to persuade myself and the others, that I can really do it.

These steps out of the city, into nature, the first crossroads and then the first decision, where to go.

I tended to take the road that looked more convenient. Tarred, downhill, in the direction of a place where people lived. But that inner voice knew better than me. More often than not, I had to go the other way.