I've been thinking a lot about storytelling lately (guess that makes sense, right?) There are so many ways that we're telling stories throughout the day with this film... Shooting the landscape, shooting interviews with pilgrims, shooting interviews with each other, writing notes for the film, Instagramming, blogging... Each format is different, each format helps give you an idea of what is happening as we cross Spain on foot seeking stories. But all of these, no matter how comprehensive we might try to be, will ever give you a complete view of the experience. Our days probably seem romantic, of adventurous, or maybe even perfect to you. But they are so far from that. Yes, some days, some moments are wonderful. But there is a lot that doesn't end up on the blog, a lot that isn't captured by a snapshot on Instagram.
Every moment isn't magical. The night Veronique sang Edith Piaf in the cathedral? The last few kilometers of the walk that day were along a busy highway, and my only motivation to keep walking was the thought that the sooner I got to Belorado, the sooner I could take a nap.
Not every conversation on the Camino is deep. We also have goofy ones, like our ongoing creation of ridiculous album titles (the best so far: "Bob Dylan, The Last King of Grenada" and "My Love Language is Dinosaurs.")
And yes, we are walking almost 500 miles across a foreign country as we make our first feature film. That probably sounds pretty epic. But I promise you, we have aches and pains. We smell bad at the end of the day just like every other pilgrim who walks this road. There are moments when I feel doubt, moments when I think "This is crazy, right? What in the world am I doing, backpacking across Spain and trying to make a movie?"
The reason I'm saying all this? Partly because I've realized that I get discouraged when I don't have something particularly epic to share with you, whoever you are, that reads this blog. And that's stupid. This is real life, warts and all, and you know what? Even in my life apart from the Camino, there are beautiful moments amidst all the normality. There are things to be thankful for, stories I could share. We all have them. It's easy to just show the epic moments in our lives through all these various social media outlets. But that can give us a warped perception of the people we see online.
So, two challenges:
1. If you feel like you're life is currently boring, look closer. I bet you have at least one interesting thing happen every day. You should probably share that. More people want to hear than you probably realize.
2. If all you do online is share the epic moments of your life, figure out what you should do instead. I can't really say what that looks like. It's up to you. But I think the best stories are the imperfect ones. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be alive, really alive.
Alright, sermon/blogging thoughts over. Hold me accountable alright? I want to live real life with you guys, warts and all.