Camino del Norte 4 - Gracias a la Vida

Why Do We Give Up Halfway?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2439918/fan_mail/new] Why do some people push through… while others stop when it gets hard? In this episode of Quo Vadis, I explore a fundamental question on the journey of following your calling: Why do we give up halfway? Inspired by a young boy one morning in Nuuk fighting on his bicycle uphill I experience a living metaphor for perseverance. As he climbs a steep hill where most people give up, something unexpected unfolds. Along the way, I reflect on stories and perspectives that challenge what we think we know about talent, effort, and endurance: * Can greatness be created, or are we born with it? The remarkable experiment of László Polgár and his daughters suggests one answer. * What happens when discipline replaces passion? The story of André Agassi reveals a different truth. * What carries us through when desire fades? * And what does it really mean to “love your fate” — amor fati? Drawing on the lives of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Viktor Frankl, this episode explores how meaning — not talent, not even passion — may be the deepest source of endurance. Because when everything becomes difficult, what is it that keeps you going?

Camino del Norte 4 - Gracias a la Vida

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2439918/fan_mail/new] After the first three stages, something shifts on the fourth stretch of the Camino del Norte — happiness begins to seep in. Through Ribadesella and Avilés, I enter a new lightness. Observing strangers in a fisherman’s restaurant unfolds into small dramas, vibrant and alive. An erotic dream of a mysterious woman awakens the power of the anima. And among the stately casa indiana houses, I find myself reflecting on how love from the past still flows in the blood, like hidden frequencies of energy. Light mingles with darkness. At Hotel Don Pedro, I encounter the blood-soaked legacy of the conquistador, while Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain draws my thoughts toward the nature of time and mortality. And yet, something essential has changed. The body takes over. My legs carry me as if on wheels, and a deep well-being rises where none lived before. Meeting Australian Berry among ripened blackberries becomes the emblem of this new phase — connection, ease, and a quiet gratitude for simply being allowed to be here. A podcast episode about finding light in the heart of darkness — about the pilgrim’s strange and beautiful power to turn pain into joy.

Camino del Norte 3 - To Lose in Order to Find

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2439918/fan_mail/new] An unexpected encounter throws me off balance: a woman forces herself upon me and steals my crucifix. Like a vampire's bite, it drains me, leaving me shaken and naked. But in the loss, the shell is stripped away – and the light finds its way in. In this third chapter of my pilgrimage on the Camino del Norte, I discover that I have come here to mourn Susanne. Music, encounters, and spiritual texts open the path, and I realize that the Camino is not about holding onto what I thought it should be, but about surrendering to the path I am actually given. Again. A tale of loss, grief, and longing – and of how we sometimes must lose in order to find.

Camino del Norte 2 - Walking Home

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2439918/fan_mail/new] In this episode I follow people and their masks, the longing to be seen and loved — and discover how I myself am searching for something that does not quite allow itself to be grasped. I encounter Mary in the apse of a church as High Priestess and keeper of the veil, finish Lea Korsgaard’s book about butterflies and God in nature, and have a dream of the child within me who longs for home.  The episode explores the difference between seeking and finding, and how you sometimes only finds home when you stop looking. A story of pilgrimage, spirituality, and of making oneself available to the small miracles that reveal themselves along the way.

Camino del Norte 1 - The First Steps

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2439918/fan_mail/new] Welcome to Quo Vadis, In this special Camino series, I temporarily leave the Continental Divide Trail — the very trail I am hiking right now — and set out on a different pilgrimage, one I walked in the summer of 2025: the Camino del Norte in Spain. The first chapter begins at the airport — with anticipation, unease, and a glimpse of the long road ahead. Along the way, I share impressions, encounters, and reflections from the first steps of this six-week journey, one that leads not only toward Santiago, but deeper into life itself. 🎧 Listen in if you are considering walking a Camino, setting out on a pilgrimage — or simply feel like walking a stretch of the road with me.