The Journey Home

By: Seth Miller

I am back home after walking 260 miles in 17 days on the Camino de Santiago in Spain as part of IPF's Freedom 2 Walk campaign. Being home means being right back into things: early morning camp drop-offs and afternoon basketball practices for the child; household chores and Costco runs; days full of meetings at work; catching up on all that I missed. And this is the dichotomy between the busy, chaotic nature of home life and the simplicity of life on the Camino. 

Sure, it's not easy to wake up every day after a restless night of sleep and walk 15 or more miles during a European heat wave. But it is simple and predictable, which leaves a ton of room for thought, reflection, self-improvement, fun, and connection. In that simplicity, the Camino always gives me a chance to reset and rethink how best to navigate the business of home life, so I can better serve my family, my co-workers and clients, and just be a better version of myself. And of course, it has made walking every single day a routine again, as a way to jumpstart my day.

My Camino experience isn't predicated on a traumatic event in my life. I just love walking and the space it gives me to reset in a healthy way. But I met so many people on the Camino whose response to some trauma--a death in the family, a loss of a job, or the end of a long-term relationship, even surviving cancer was to travel to Spain and walk for weeks in record-breaking heat. And as their journey progressed, they seemed lighter, less burdened. Perhaps the simplicity of the Camino, the act of consistently moving by putting one foot in front of the other, broke them out of the inertia caused by their trauma.

At IPF, our focus is centered on our clients, so many of them are freed from the trauma of wrongful incarceration. But being physically free does not automatically unburden these men and women from the trauma they have endured. It persists, and too often continues to disrupt a healthy transition back into a free society. After all, in many ways, life outside of the prison walls is more chaotic, and living a healthy life where one can move through and beyond the trauma of wrongful incarceration is complex and difficult.

Addressing this squarely and intentionally is a necessary outgrowth of Freedom 2 Walk. We are currently developing a vital program consisting of semi-annual wellness retreats for our clients that incorporate healing, physical activity, education, time in nature, and community, so they can develop tools for healthy living and managing the chaotic nature of free society. My dream is that, in time, we can help free wrongfully convicted individuals from Florida and all over this country train for and complete a meaningful physical challenge of their own (maybe even a Camino) as a symbol of restoration, resilience, and reclaimed freedom.

This will be our task, and your unwavering support for Freedom 2 Walk will be our springboard. Together, we can support the community of freed wrongfully convicted individuals to build healthy, stable, and happy lives beyond prison walls. Let's get to work!

Seth, back in his office, holding his training dummy after the office received CPR training