A year ago I was walking the ancient pilgrimage called the Camino de Santiago. I was in northern Spain with some of my closest friends and a gracious Spanish guide named Javi.

The second or third day of the journey Javi urged me to take my shoes and socks off and walk part of the path with bare feet. It was cold and wet. But I said "Yes!"

I felt my toes squish into the ancient mud, I walked over soft green moss, I stepped onto piles of dark leaves.

And I felt something shift inside.

I don't know if the energy of the millions and millions of souls who walked this trail before me rose up through the soles of my feet and entered my soul that day, but something shifted.

And it has kept shifting all year since then.

I feel more brave.

More willing to take risks.

More open to saying yes to things that bring me life and no to things that make me die inside.

I see the world as so much bigger than I did before; more wild, more free, more inviting.

Scales that once hindered my ability to more clearly see God keep falling from my eyes. And as I see God more clearly, I notice that I can see myself and others around me through eyes of love, not judgment.

Ask me to travel and I'll probably say yes. Ask me to take a risk and I will swallow hard, but will probably say yes. Ask me to dance and I will absolutely say yes. Timid is not how I roll anymore.

There were numerous moments on this ancient path that felt supernaturally holy.

This was one of them.

The day Alice put her feet in the mud and came out changed.