Trust me. I know in this crazy world that is dangerous to write or say out loud. What I am referring to is my upcoming podcast with an old friend from my Salomon Brothers experience in New York City in the mid-1990s. My friend Jack V. Kirnan, Ph.D. was a number-one-ranked auto analyst at the same time I was pedaling stock recommendations and IPOs from our office on Wall Street. Those times were memorable but not nearly as wonderful as talking to Jack recently as we prepared for this podcast. He has an amazing story I want to share with you.
Today, Jack specializes in personal, career, and executive coaching and brings his 30 years of personal experience in financial services and education to help his clients explore new ideas and pathways to success in their personal lives. His career and life today were hugely affected by walking the Camino de Santiago for 34 days - an accumulation of 1.2 million steps and 484 miles. The route he took was the Camino Frances that began in St. Jean de Pied a Port, France, and ended at the Cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela. He will share that his pilgrimage was the hardest thing he has ever done, both physically and emotionally. At the same time, the experience was uplifting and enlightening, allowing him to let go of heavy lifelong burdens.
You can imagine that over 34 days of walking the Camino, numerous memories were made with people from dozens of other countries who shared the same mindset - finding answers to personal issues and burdens, just as millions of pilgrims have done for more than a thousand years.
Please check back next week to listen to our podcast. I have no doubt that you will find it interesting and hopefully uplifting to your own backpack of life’s burdens we all carry with us.
For some inspiration, I have included a great Van Morrison song that Jack sang to himself after one of his most difficult days. Hope you enjoy it.
See you next week,
Roger N. Steed