(2004-12-27)
Down-sized from the Corporate World, she now prepares Others to Walk the Path of the Pilgrim
The usual reaction when a person is downsized from their job is denial, anger, sadness, bargaining, and finally, acceptance. None of the above applied to account executive Sue Kenney who lost her position with an international telecommunications company. Instead, she decided to take a walk…a long walk that lasted 29 days and 780 km: the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Never one to shrink from a challenge, Kenney had previously become a world class rower at the age of 45. She made the crew that ultimately won a gold medal at the FISA World Masters Rowing Championships in 2001. Kenney used the discipline and skills she learned to negotiate the physical and emotional aspects of her walk across the north of Spain, alone, in the winter. Upon her return she wrote, Sue Kenney's My Camino (White Knight Publications, 2004, ISBN 0-9734186-3-X) which has sold over 3,000 copies in five months.
In My Camino, the reader will not only share in Kenney’s travel adventures, but experience her journey of self-actualization on this ancient mystical route. “Pilgrims have been traveling to Santiago de Compostela in Spain for over eleven hundred years”, says Kenney. “My experiences on the path taught me to live the Camino life at home and in business: expect nothing, therefore everything is a gift”.
Sue Kenney now takes her message back to the corporate world that she once left. At speaking engagements and her workshops across Canada, she teaches “pilgrim virtues” that metaphorically impart leadership concepts. In April 2005, she will be personally leading a small group of downsized individuals back to the Camino.
Sue Kenney’s book, Sue Kenney's My Camino, is available at fine bookstores across Canada including Chapters and Indigo. Visit www.suekenney.ca for more information.
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