Living Like You’re at Camp

6 Camp Values That Can Be Applied to Everyday Life

With the end of the 2023 camp season, and campers and staff members alike returning to our everyday lives, be it school or work, it's easy for our time at camp to start feeling distant. That’s why it's important to take a minute to reflect on our BlueSky experience. What are some of the lessons and values you learned at Camp BlueSky and how can you best put them into practice throughout your daily life? While there are a wide variety of life lessons and experiences we want you to take away from Camp BlueSky, I’d just like to highlight six values that we hope stuck with you the most.

1. CHALLENGE YOURSELVES

As we go through life, it’s easy to stay in your comfort zone, where you feel things are easiest, be it with the people around you, your school/work life, or just your day-to-day experiences. At camp, we encouraged you to push yourselves and get out of your comfort zones. That could mean performing in the talent show even though you might have stage fright or a fear of public speaking, going up the ropes course to overcome your fear of heights, trying new experiences like mountain biking or pickleball, or even just working up the courage to make a new friend. When you challenge yourself to take on new tasks and experiences, your comfort zone grows larger and you’re able to take on more. BlueSky hopes you were all able to step out of your comfort zones and will continue to do so until we meet again next year.

2. TEAMWORK

While at camp, you all got to be a part of and work in different teams, such as Chumvi or Nuru, your mountain groups, or during skills sessions. Camp BlueSky hopes that you were all able to see the benefit of working as a team. Working together with a group of people to achieve a certain objective can prove more effective (and fun) than working as an individual. We hope you learned how to vocalize your thoughts and ideas while still learning what it means to sacrifice for the betterment of the group. Whether a team succeeds or fails together, meaningful connections can be built through these shared experiences. Working in a team may also have taught some of you valuable leadership skills that we hope you will continue to develop and put into practice.

3. CONNECT WITH NATURE

We live in a world that is currently driven by technology and our lives have become so busy and structured that we often don’t get the chance — or just plain forget — to connect with nature. We pray that by coming to Camp BlueSky, you were encouraged to unplug and connect with the nature around you. Taking a few minutes to “touch grass” or to just be outside has a wonderful way of rejuvenating our spirits and allows us to better connect with ourselves and those around us.

4. INDEPENDENCE

For some of you, coming to camp may have been your first time spending time away from your family and constant parental or teacher supervision for an extended period of time. This means you were put in a position where you had to make decisions for yourself, learn how to manage your time, take care of your personal belongings, and navigate relationships without your parents being there to help you. We hope through these experiences at Camp BlueSky that you were able to grow to become more responsible, confident, resilient, and independent individuals. Independence allows you to really figure out who you are and discover new skills that can shape your identity.

5. COMMUNICATION & SOCIAL SKILLS

As we go through life, we are all certainly going to encounter people we don’t know and we might even need to learn how to get along with or work with them. Summer camps like Camp BlueSky are a great way for children and adults to network and develop social skills, especially when meeting new people. By interacting with different people from all over the world, you had to know how to best communicate, cooperate, and even resolve conflict. Most of you came to camp not knowing anyone and by the end of the week, you left with an entire cabin of friends. Camp BlueSky hopes that you will continue to meet new people and foster friendships and that you will continue to learn how to appreciate diversity in different individuals and treat them with tolerance and respect.

6. LIVE, LAUGH, & HAVE FUN!

If you don’t already know, our legitimate #1 rule at Camp BlueSky is HAVE FUUUN! It's even one of our core values, along with growing spiritually and building relationships. We saw that you all did your very best to follow this rule at camp and now our genuine prayer is that you will continue to do so outside of camp. Life can be hard and super complicated, which is why it's important, when appropriate, to cut loose and have some fun, go on an adventure with friends, and remember not to take ourselves too seriously. They do say laughter is the best medicine for the soul and it has been known to help with anxiety.

---

We hope you are encouraged to continue living by these values outside of camp. To keep up with what we're doing, make sure to follow us on social media and sign up for our newsletter so you won’t miss out on any of the opportunities we present. And, if not before, we look forward to seeing you next year!