So here is an example of how a small, mundane thing can get really out of hand. Recently I traveled to Spain to go on a Camino walk. I walked from Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre, which the Spaniards of earlier centuries believed was the end of the world—literally, finis (“end”), terra (“earth”). Looking out at the ocean from the promontory where the trail ends, it would be easy to imagine that a boat that sailed over the horizon would somehow fall off into an abyss.

I was to start at the Cathedral square in Santiago de Compostela and walk over the next few days out to the Atlantic coast. My wife would meet me, and we planned to walk up the coast to Finisterre from there. Days before I began the walk, on the flight to Spain, I painstakingly put all of the information about each day’s trail and each night’s stop into my phone. The itinerary was set so that on some days, I walked to where my reserved housing was. On other days, I would call the hotel for a pickup, and they would return me to the path in the same place the next morning. I added all of this information into my phone, painstakingly, so that I would be prepared for the walk. And, in addition, I took along the trail guide that was provided by the company who planned the walk, ensuring that I had another resource to support my walk.