How a bunch of strangers became my family
When’s the last time you fell in love with a bunch of strangers?
No wait, I probably don’t want to hear the answer to that. (I’m afraid of your tinder stories).
Hear my answer instead – last summer, I attended this week long leadership retreat at OSU called Leadershape.
I was coaxed into applying by my friends who had attended the year before. I honestly had no idea what to expect because they deliberately kept it hush hush. Talk about suspense.
They literally packed 60 kids into two charter busses and shipped us to the middle of nowhere called camp joy. No wifi. No phones. No running water. Just kidding, they had running water, but this was pretty much as spartan as it gets.
To top it all off, you didn’t know most of the kids that were around you. I know how it sounds… but trust me when I say I now know how to survive in a zombie apocalypse.
Where does the leadership part begin, you ask?
The whole thing is leadership. Six days of nonstop talking, learning, reflecting, and bonding. It was one of the best experiences in my life that taught me about things like the value of feedback, having a healthy disregard for the impossible, and don’t drop the soap.
But in all seriousness, you are forced to develop a level of intimacy with people you’ve barely met which leaves you stunned at how quickly vulnerability turns into friendships. The self learning that occurs in the process will turn you into a different person – a better person. The kind of person that doesn’t wake up at noon, and eat brunch at Hang Over Easy to cure that throbbing headache. (I’m not pointing any fingers).
Isn’t that expensive?
Here’s the kicker. OSU pays for the whole thing. Food, accommodation, and booze. They don’t actually pay for booze… that’s actually prohibited at Camp Joy.
But who needs alcohol to have fun, right? …right?!
Seriously though, the leadership curriculum is a world class education at your fingertips if you choose to take advantage of the opportunity.
And if you call now, I’ll throw in an extra bar of soap, for free. Don’t ask me where the soap has been though… just know I didn’t drop it.