Camp Club Getaway: Adult Summer Camp!

I hope you had a good weekend!

Over Labor Day Weekend, I stepped into a version of myself that I’ve always admired: I attended adult summer camp at Camp Club Getaway in Connecticut! It featured hiking, mountain biking, slip and slide kickball, water skiing, and more: I was all in! Even after learning just how hard water skiing is, there was no better place to have spent the last weekend of summer. The experience was 100% aligned with my “old lady goal” to be in the same league as Ms. Ida.

In 2018, I started running because I was worried about developing diabetes (I was getting to the point where I was going to be as wide as I am tall, if I didn’t watch it). I chose running because I wanted to know what was up with those people who run in August heat and February cold. Slowly, I progressed from wondering if I was going to die trying to make it around Cooper River Park to actually running. Eventually, I started feeling cocky and even bought, “I know I look good in these” jeans! Then, one day as I sat in the drive-through line to get yet another order of ice cream and french fries (you gotta dip the fries in the ice cream), a question popped into my head: am I running because I want to be healthy or am I really chasing thin? Although I didn’t get out of line that day, I get in that line less often…and I’ve kept the weight off (35 pounds).

My decision to choose healthy turned into an anchor habit. I reworked major parts of my life to align with “healthy”. For me, healthy meant going to bed early because I run at 5am. In turn, this also meant cutting unnecessary obligations that translated into getting to bed late. I also realized that I would have to eat at home more to get the most out of my calories; thus, I needed time for meal planning and grocery shopping. Cooking meant that I had to end my work day on time in order to avoid eating late, which would delay my bedtime. If the activity didn’t fit with my running and food goals, it was cut. Given that my attitude had always been, “If I’m going to exercise, I’m going to find all of the free options”, I knew I’d turned a corner when I started caring about my exercise gear and created a “health and and active lifestyle” line in my budget.

I cannot even begin to explain the depth of the confidence that I’ve experienced from knowing that I can do hard things that don’t offer immediate gratification. The unexpected benefit of this personal success is that it has spilled over into my professional life. Now, you’d be hard pressed to get me to believe that I am not capable of besting a particular feat, whether on or off the clock.

How often do you get to live in a moment whereby you get to see yourself living the life that imagined you’d lead? How has your commitment to what matters most shown up in your life and made you a better person and professional?

I hope you had a good weekend because I did!