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Camp teaches kids grit and resilience.

We are very excited to welcome Adam “Taps” Brown to the show this week. Ian and I met Adam during his time working as the Co-Director at the Cairn Family of Camps. If you know Adam, you know that he is one of the most intentional teachers and leaders out there. Yes, he has a ton of hard skills, but it’s how he applies them and better yet, how he teaches them that makes him brilliant. His determination to better both himself and other people around him is why he is the perfect person to talk about grit and resilience with us today.

Camp and life are tough, but the environment totally affects our experience of not only what “tough” means but how we respond to the things that are “tough”. In my opinion, camp is “tough” in the best kind of way. At camp, we encourage kids to create a lifestyle of exploring their physical, mental and even spiritual comfort zones. Does the outside world do this? Absolutely it does! However, the difference between camp and elsewhere lies in the focus that we take in nurturing those who are ready to explore their limits. I hesitate to use the phrase that we “take time” to foster resilience, because that implies that we are inconveniencing our regular lives to do so. At camp, we DON’T “take time” to help kids build grit and resilience, we DO embrace a lifestyle of growing together and making each other aware of our growth. I recognize that I live a life of many privileges, but when even my life gets tough, I know that I can draw on my experience of perseverance at camp to realize that I can in fact be resilient. Because of Summer Camp, I have grit.

Until next week!

-Iscus

Tangible Take-Aways - Applying camp’s lessons to your life

Adam - Take a few situations that were hard and reflect on the following questions: Why was it hard? How did I get through it? How do I feel about myself for getting through it?

Iscus - Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers - A brilliant way to think about resilience

Arae - Think about other people that are facing challenges in their lives and find a way to be on the journey with them to help them recognize their resilience.

Please feel free to comment below on how you did with our challenges. Good luck!