The Pilgrim Spirit: What Happens When You Say Yes to the Journey
What would happen if you stopped waiting for the “right time” and simply took the first step?
On this episode of The Covert Code Podcast, I sat down with author, modern-day pilgrim, and global traveler Gideon Enok to discuss one of the most remarkable journeys I’ve ever heard. After life unexpectedly came to a halt during the global pandemic, Gideon packed a backpack and began walking more than 7,000 kilometers across Europe toward Santiago de Compostela.
While many people would see this as an incredible physical challenge, Gideon describes it as something much deeper—a journey of healing, self-discovery, faith, and learning to trust the unknown.
His story is a reminder that sometimes our greatest transformations begin not with a perfectly crafted plan, but with the courage to simply take the next step.
Life Doesn’t Always Give You a Roadmap
Like many entrepreneurs and professionals, Gideon found himself facing unexpected change. The pandemic disrupted life around the world, relationships changed, businesses slowed, and uncertainty became the new normal.
Instead of allowing those circumstances to define him, he chose movement over stagnation.
That decision became the beginning of a five-month pilgrimage that would reshape his understanding of success, purpose, and fulfillment.
One of the themes we often discuss on AnnaCovert.com is that growth rarely happens inside our comfort zone. Gideon’s story is a perfect example of what becomes possible when we choose courage over certainty.
The Three Phases of Transformation
During our conversation, Gideon shared what he calls the three phases every pilgrim experiences.
The first is physical.
When you begin walking day after day, your body must adapt to the challenge.
The second phase is mental.
As distractions disappear, emotions begin to surface. Old fears, stress, grief, frustration, and limiting beliefs often rise to the surface because there is finally space to process them.
The final phase is spiritual.
This isn’t necessarily about religion. Instead, it’s about reconnecting with yourself, discovering inner peace, and recognizing that many of the answers you’ve been searching for were already within you.
Whether you’re walking across Europe or navigating a challenging season in business, these same phases often appear in our own lives.
Slowing Down Can Help You Move Forward
One of my favorite moments from our conversation centered around the idea that slowing down is not the same as falling behind.
In today’s world we’re constantly encouraged to move faster, produce more, and stay connected every waking moment.
But Gideon discovered something different.
Walking created space.
Without constant notifications, meetings, and distractions, he found greater clarity about his purpose and the direction he wanted his life to take.
That lesson extends far beyond a pilgrimage.
Many entrepreneurs, executives, and business owners find their best ideas during quiet moments—not while staring at another screen.
The Power of Surrender
Another powerful lesson from Gideon’s journey was learning the difference between surrender and giving up.
Too often we associate surrender with weakness.
Gideon sees it differently.
Surrender means releasing the need to control every outcome while continuing to move forward with intention.
It means trusting the process even when you cannot yet see the destination.
That mindset applies equally to entrepreneurship, leadership, relationships, and personal growth.
Self-Respect Changes Everything
Throughout the conversation, Gideon returned to one important idea: self-respect.
When we respect ourselves, we make better decisions.
We establish healthier boundaries.
We become less reactive to outside opinions.
We stop living according to other people’s expectations and begin creating lives aligned with our own values.
That shift influences every area of life—from career decisions to business leadership to personal relationships.
The Pilgrim Mindset
You don’t have to walk thousands of kilometers to embrace the pilgrim spirit.
Anyone can begin adopting the mindset Gideon describes.
Stay curious.
Remain present.
Trust yourself.
Spend time in nature.
Slow down enough to hear your own thoughts.
Continue taking the next step, even when you don’t yet know where the path leads.
These principles have the power to transform not only our businesses but our lives.
Listen to the Full Episode
To hear my full conversation with Gideon Enok about resilience, mindfulness, the Camino de Santiago, faith, purpose, and the life-changing lessons of becoming a modern-day pilgrim, listen to this episode of The Covert Code Podcast.
You can learn more about Gideon, download a free chapter of his book, and explore his work by visiting The Pilgrim Spirit. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn, follow him on Instagram, or watch his videos on YouTube.
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📚 ABOUT HOST ANNA COVERT:
Anna Covert is the host of The Covert Code Podcast and the author of The Covert Code – Mastering the Art of Digital Marketing and The Solar Coaster. With over two decades of experience in digital marketing and business strategy, Anna has worked with top-tier companies like Microsoft, Apple, and IBM and leads Covert Communication, Hawaii’s largest digital agency.
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Transcript: The Pilgrim Spirit — What Happens When You Say Yes to the Journey
Episode: The Covert Code Podcast
Host: Anna Covert
Guest: Gideon Enok
Anna Covert [00:00:04]: Aloha! My name is Anna Covert, and I'm coming to you from my battleship here on the beautiful island of Oahu.
Anna Covert [00:00:12]: This week on The Covert Code Podcast, the topic is The Pilgrim Spirit: What Happens When You Say Yes to the Journey.
Anna Covert [00:00:23]: My very special guest is Gideon Enok, a global traveler, author, and modern-day pilgrim who has trekked more than 7,000 kilometers across multiple countries in search of purpose, growth, and a deeper understanding of what really happens when you simply keep moving forward.
Anna Covert [00:00:43]: In his book, The Pilgrim Spirit, Gideon chronicles a five-month journey across Europe during the global pandemic and shares the life-changing lessons he learned along the way.
Anna Covert [00:00:56]: Today we'll be talking about adventure, resilience, trusting the unknown, and what it really means to follow your heart—not only in life, but in business.
Anna Covert [00:01:07]: Gideon, thank you so much for joining me today.
Gideon Enok [00:01:10]: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm really looking forward to our conversation.
From Sales to Self-Discovery
Anna Covert: Let's start at the beginning. Before you became this modern-day pilgrim, what did life look like? What were you doing, and what ultimately led you down this path?
Gideon Enok: Everything really started around 2009. I attended a personal development seminar that completely shifted my perspective. The following Monday I went to work, sat down at my sales job, and something inside me had changed. It felt like my entire worldview had shifted overnight.
Gideon Enok: I became fascinated with personal growth, entrepreneurship, mindset, and understanding how our conscious and subconscious minds influence our lives.
Gideon Enok: I started reading everything I could find. I became obsessed with learning and discovering what was possible beyond simply working every day.
Gideon Enok: Toward the end of that year, I made a poor investment and lost a significant amount of money. At the same time, my former boss had moved to Australia after losing his own job.
Gideon Enok: I reached a point where I realized I needed to completely change my environment.
Gideon Enok: Within forty-two days, I sold or gave away nearly everything I owned, packed a backpack, and moved to Perth, Australia.
Anna Covert: Did you ever think you'd return to Denmark?
Gideon Enok: At the time, honestly, no. I told my parents at the airport that I wasn't coming back. I believed I was starting an entirely new life.
The Pandemic Changed Everything
Anna Covert: Fast forward to 2020. The world shuts down. You're back in Europe, going through a difficult breakup, and life feels uncertain. What happened?
Gideon Enok: I found myself living alone in a small farmhouse, feeling stuck and deeply unhappy. One morning I woke up knowing something had to change.
Gideon Enok: I sat down to meditate for several hours. Afterward, I felt an urge to walk to the ocean, about ten kilometers away.
Gideon Enok: Standing there looking across the water, I heard what felt like a clear voice asking, "Why don't you walk from Denmark to Santiago?"
Gideon Enok: It startled me because it felt incredibly real.
Gideon Enok: A couple of weeks later, I trusted that intuition, packed my backpack, and began walking toward Santiago de Compostela.
Walking Into the Unknown
Anna Covert: What were you hoping to find?
Gideon Enok: Honestly, I didn't know.
Gideon Enok: I simply believed the journey would change my life. I trusted that feeling completely.
Gideon Enok: Looking back, that trust became one of the greatest lessons of the entire pilgrimage.
Why Walking Changes Us
Anna Covert: There are so many people today who feel overwhelmed by uncertainty. We have technology, global conflict, social media, and constant distractions.
Anna Covert: What did walking teach you about navigating uncertainty?
Gideon Enok: Walking reconnects us with something incredibly ancient.
Gideon Enok: Human beings have always walked. We explored the world on foot long before modern transportation existed.
Gideon Enok: When we slow down enough to walk day after day, something inside us begins slowing down too.
Gideon Enok: We spend so much time on computers, phones, and social media that our minds rarely get a chance to rest.
Gideon Enok: Walking restores that balance.
The Three Phases of the Camino
Gideon Enok: In my book, I describe what I call the three phases of the Camino.
Gideon Enok: The first phase is physical.
Gideon Enok: During the first ten to fourteen days, your body simply adapts to walking every day while carrying everything you own.
Gideon Enok: Once your body adjusts, you enter the second phase, which is mental.
Gideon Enok: That's where many of your emotional burdens begin surfacing.
Gideon Enok: As you continue walking, you release stress, trauma, frustration, grief, anger, and everything you've been carrying for years.
Gideon Enok: It isn't always comfortable.
Gideon Enok: There were days when I cried.
Gideon Enok: There were days when I became frustrated.
Gideon Enok: There were moments when I questioned everything.
Gideon Enok: But continuing to walk became part of the healing process.
Gideon Enok: Eventually, you arrive at what I call the spiritual phase.
Gideon Enok: That's where you begin feeling connected again—to yourself, to other people, and to something larger than yourself.
Gideon Enok: Many people reconnect with loved ones, forgive old wounds, or discover a deeper sense of peace during this phase.
Anna Covert: I love that because it feels very similar to life itself.
Gideon Enok: Exactly. I often say these aren't only the three phases of the Camino.
Gideon Enok: They're the three phases we often experience throughout life.
Meditation, Walking, and Mental Clarity
Anna Covert: One of the themes that kept coming up throughout your journey was meditation. How did that become such an important part of your life?
Gideon Enok: Meditation taught me how to observe my thoughts instead of becoming controlled by them. When you're walking eight or ten hours a day, your mind has nowhere to hide. Eventually the constant mental chatter begins to quiet, and you start hearing your intuition much more clearly.
Gideon Enok: I often tell people that walking itself became my meditation. Every step became part of the practice.
Anna Covert: That's beautiful because so many people think meditation means sitting perfectly still for an hour.
Gideon Enok: Exactly. Meditation can happen while you're walking, breathing, or simply becoming fully present. The important part is learning to become aware of your thoughts instead of constantly reacting to them.
Writing The Pilgrim Spirit
Anna Covert: At what point did you know this journey would become a book?
Gideon Enok: I didn't know at the beginning.
Gideon Enok: I was journaling every day because I wanted to remember what I was experiencing. The more I wrote, the more I realized these lessons weren't only helping me—they might help other people too.
Gideon Enok: Eventually those journals became the foundation for The Pilgrim Spirit.
Gideon Enok: My hope is that readers don't simply read about my journey. I hope they begin their own.
The Eight Principles of the Pilgrim
Anna Covert: Your book shares what you call the Eight Principles of the Pilgrim. Tell us about those.
Gideon Enok: Those principles came directly from the experiences I had while walking.
Gideon Enok: They aren't theories. They're lessons earned through thousands of kilometers on the trail.
Gideon Enok: They include trust, surrender, presence, gratitude, courage, self-respect, service, and faith.
Gideon Enok: None of these principles are mastered overnight. They become lifelong practices.
Anna Covert: I love that they aren't just ideas—they're things people can actually practice.
Gideon Enok: Exactly. Wisdom only matters when we apply it.
Learning to Surrender
Anna Covert: One word that came up repeatedly throughout your story was surrender. I think people sometimes confuse surrender with giving up.
Gideon Enok: They are completely different.
Gideon Enok: Giving up means losing hope.
Gideon Enok: Surrender means letting go of trying to control every outcome.
Gideon Enok: During the pilgrimage I couldn't control the weather, where I would sleep every night, or who I would meet.
Gideon Enok: The more I trusted the journey, the more life seemed to meet me exactly where I needed it to.
Anna Covert: That's something entrepreneurs struggle with too. We spend so much time trying to control everything.
Gideon Enok: Absolutely. Sometimes our greatest opportunities appear after we release the need to control every step.
The Importance of Self-Respect
Anna Covert: Another topic that really resonated with me was self-respect.
Gideon Enok: Self-respect changes everything.
Gideon Enok: Many people spend their lives trying to earn respect from others while forgetting to respect themselves.
Gideon Enok: Healthy boundaries, honesty, keeping promises to yourself, and treating yourself with kindness are all expressions of self-respect.
Gideon Enok: Once you truly respect yourself, your relationships begin changing naturally.
The Unexpected Kindness of Strangers
Anna Covert: Throughout your journey you encountered incredible generosity from complete strangers.
Gideon Enok: Yes.
Gideon Enok: One experience in Belgium really stayed with me.
Gideon Enok: I had nowhere to stay that evening and wasn't sure what I was going to do.
Gideon Enok: Someone I had never met welcomed me into their home without expecting anything in return.
Gideon Enok: Moments like that reminded me that people are fundamentally good.
Gideon Enok: We hear so much negative news every day, but my experience walking across Europe showed me tremendous kindness from complete strangers.
Faith, Intention, and Imagination
Anna Covert: We also talked about imagination and faith.
Gideon Enok: Everything begins in imagination.
Gideon Enok: Before we create something physically, we first create it mentally.
Gideon Enok: Faith isn't pretending everything will be easy.
Gideon Enok: Faith is continuing forward even when you cannot yet see the destination.
Anna Covert: That's a powerful way to describe entrepreneurship as well.
Gideon Enok: Absolutely. Every entrepreneur walks through uncertainty.
Finding Love Along the Journey
Anna Covert: One unexpected outcome of your pilgrimage was meeting your future wife.
Gideon Enok: Yes.
Gideon Enok: Had I never begun walking, our paths likely never would have crossed.
Gideon Enok: Looking back, it's another reminder that saying yes to one courageous decision often opens doors we never could have planned.
Advice for Someone Feeling Stuck
Anna Covert: If someone listening feels stuck today, what's the first piece of advice you'd give them?
Gideon Enok: Start moving.
Gideon Enok: You don't have to walk across Europe.
Gideon Enok: Go outside.
Gideon Enok: Take a walk.
Gideon Enok: Sit quietly.
Gideon Enok: Listen.
Gideon Enok: Often the answers we're searching for begin appearing once we slow down enough to hear them.
How to Connect with Gideon
Anna Covert: Where can people learn more about your work?
Gideon Enok: The best place is my website, ThePilgrimSpirit.com.
Gideon Enok: People can download a free chapter of the book, learn more about my journey, connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram, or follow my YouTube channel where I continue sharing lessons from the pilgrimage.
Closing Thoughts
Anna Covert: Gideon, thank you so much for joining me today. I truly enjoyed this conversation.
Gideon Enok: Thank you. It was a pleasure being here.
Anna Covert: And thank you to all of our listeners for joining us for another episode of The Covert Code Podcast.
Anna Covert: If you haven't already, please subscribe and share this episode with someone who could use a reminder that sometimes the most important journey is simply taking the next step.
Anna Covert: Until next time, I can't wait to see you next week in the pixels.
Anna Covert: Aloha.
