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Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Serving Elkhart County and parts of Noble, LaGrange & Marshall Counties
Know Your Neighbor. . . . . 2➤ Speak Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Good Neighbors . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Goshen (574) 534-2591
Vol. 49 No. 40
134 S. Main, Goshen, Indiana 46526
- ' % %\ 5$< %$/2*+ 6WDII :ULWHU Camino is Spanish for “way” or “road.” For Adam G. Fleming the word embraces a clarifying epiphany and cleansing recalibration as much as it does the topological features of his recent 186-mile Camino hike from Porto, Portugal, to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Ten years after Myron Bontrager, owner of the Electric Brew in Goshen, sparked a flame in Fleming’s soul by recounting his own experiences on a Camino trek, Fleming requested time off from his position as CEO and leadership coach at Evergreen Leaders and left for his 20-day odyssey Oct. 31. “I had been a leader there for seven years and needed to take a sabbatical,” he said. “I expected to find some new direction for myself” as he scrupulously shed the suffocating paradigm of “assuming I was always going to be doing what I had been doing.” He deliberately severed himself from social media and the countless familiar daily distractions that beleaguered him at work and home and plunged himself into the “deliciously unfamiliar” experience of a foreign language and culture. In doing so, Fleming stripped himself of the trappings of piecemeal identification. “I wasn’t there as a husband or father, life coach or author (he has written and published 12 books since 2012). I was just a hiker and there was no reason to be someone else. “There was no point trying to
impress everybody. It is a time to get serious clarity and be real honest with yourself about what you want, both in the moment and for the future,” he said. Fleming did receive the direction he sought. “I found what I was looking for the last day or two of the trip: to increase the focus on my writing.” Along the way, he picked up some serendipitous treasures. “What I did not expect, but probably should have, was to find so many friends. And I did not expect to find those friendships forming so quickly and at such depth.” But friendliness is one of Fleming’s signal qualities, and he discovered, “When you leave all other aspects of your identity behind, like work and family, and take only who you are, other people will recognize some of those core character traits immediately.” Even so, Fleming estimated he traveled about two-thirds of the Camino alone. He hiked through cities and towns, forests and fields, along streams and rivers, past olive gardens and vineyards, and ascended two mountains, each about 1,500 feet. In the middle of his trek, he took a day off in Pontevedra, Spain (population 83,114), the largest municipality Fleming encountered. There he spent “a wonderful time” touring a chapel and basilica, visiting an art museum, walking in the park and spending some time with his newfound friends, including a young woman, Sammy, from Germany and Joe from Ireland,
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who called Fleming “the friendliest guy on the Camino.” Fleming started training for the Camino excursion April 24 and put in “775 miles of hiking around Goshen and at the Indiana Dunes. I trained really well and was fit and ready for the trip.” Not surprisingly, Fleming is writing a book of his adventures, under the working title, “Old Roads, New Friends.” He is also planning to lead a small group to the Camino this October. “Sometimes you just got to pick something you have dreamed of and go for it. Don’t be afraid. It sounds so trite, but the truth often does. It is that simple.” Fleming lives in Goshen with his wife, Megan, and four children ranging from 11 to 18 years old. For more information, contact Fleming at (574) 238-7872 or agf@adamgfleming.com.
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