March 3, 2026 – Surviving vs. Thriving

So it’s been almost 10 months since I returned from Spain and walking the Camino. I have tried to bring home the Camino to my regular life. I have to say the Camino lesson I can tap into the most is to just focus on today and the steps before me. That is not to say I feel I’ve done a good job at making this a habit in my daily living. I believe the habits of childhood, the habits of decades of living, the habits that are part of my DNA are hard to break. I say break because that is what I want to do. . . break them. They no longer serve me well. I believe the habits formed as I developed were a means of surviving. So I can say those did serve me well. I believe surviving is instinctual for all of us. But I want to do more now than just survive. I want to thrive. How many of us are thriving right now? If I look out at the friends and family members I interact with regularly I wonder how many of them would pick they are thriving over surviving.

Surviving – to endure or live through

Thriving – prospering or doing well; highly successful

Here is what I have been surviving lately:

• learned a child of mine had no heart beat for 15 minutes
• learned this child was shocked 7 times to bring the heart back
• watched as this child was intubated 5 times over 6 weeks
• endured this child’s lungs filling up with fluid 5 times and saw what it takes to clear the lungs
• survived watching this child suffer through weeks of being on sedation medications just to keep the body alive
• endured this child’s withdrawal from sedation medications and the side effect of delirium
• learned what happens to the human body when the kidneys shut down
• endured 6 weeks of this child not being able to speak or eat because a damaged vocal chord keep the airway exposed
• made life-saving surgical decisions in minutes
• watched this child’s body hemorrhage
• prayed thru multiple surgeries
• learned of a spinal cord injury and that this child’s legs were no longer moving
• watched this child survive and live through all of this

If the choices were only surviving or thriving, what would you pick to represent your way of living?

My body’s update since my return. . .

Left foot – healed of it’s injuries but I still have periodic pain.

Right foot – lost 1 more toe nail post trip but now have all 10!!

Next post will involve the thriving that also occurred during the above surviving.