Life Is Good

NEWSLETTER FROM BETS DANKO
Remember summer camp?  
Buses and cars drive up (it’s always ‘up’, I don’t know why) to a place in the woods filled with buildings built a hundred years ago and stories to fill multiple lifetimes of “back when I was a kid” wisdom.   Kids from everywhere find a cabin or a place to pitch a tent.  Strangers become roommates, teenagers become leaders, and memories are made over stomachs filled with s’mores and songs that hail the simplicity of the life of a bullfrog and mosquitos that get under your nighty.  
It’s childhood in a nutshell.
At camp your worries are all about crafts, volleyball, and swimming tests.  At camp a dinner bell tells you when to eat and lists posted in your cabin tell you what’s expected of you.  Life at camp is laid back and easy.  
I had the pleasure of attending summer camp for a brief three days in June.  It took 24 hours for me to embrace the simplicity entirely and look for the fastest path toward applying that simplicity to my life. I was all in  with the life lessons.   It was obvious what I was missing in life (simplicity) and what needed to let go (obsession with lists and lists of things “to do”). 
A friend of mine used to talk quite a bit about her errands.  She always wished she had someone to run her errands for her.  I completely understand.  What a horrible word… “Errands”.  Right from the get go it implies error  (“err”) which by extension makes you feel like it’s just something you don’t want to do.   
Am I right?  
My life had become a list of errands… a long list of things I “had to do” and would probably “never get done.”   I was waking up every morning and running through all the things I “had to do” in the day before I’d even get up.   
Yikes!  
Now it wasn’t like I wasn’t doing anything at camp.   I was.   There were lists of things that needed to be done and I knew which things I was going to tackle when. But.... when I woke up in my little bunk bed all I thought about was getting up and preparing for breakfast.  I was not thinking or worrying about errands … at all.  I woke up casually and prepared myself for breakfast. 
The rest of my day was in the service of others and of myself. 
There was no way to make a mistake. 
This summer camp was also a location in need of support and low cost labor …the perfect location for churches looking for mission work to plant volunteers for a week or two.  I was a participant on mission.  I stacked wood and identified areas on trails that needed some TLC.  I bounced ideas on window frame solutions, and did some light cleaning/clearing in an outdoor labyrinth.  It was the least stress I have lived with and entertained for about a year.  There were no errands in site because there was no way to make a mistake… I showed up where I was needed when I was needed and never stressed about it.   
I knew right away that life needed to change and it was going to start with attitude.   
The change in attitude sounded a lot like this… 
“I am so done.  I want to life at summer camp." "Wait... I need change. It’s time to create a life that feels like a continual summer camp. “
“Wait… gotta reword that… it’s time to live life as though I am at summer camp. “
“Wait... life is summer camp.”
“That’s it.”
So... I’m hearing you, “maybe your life is a summer camp, but have you been in my world?” 
I totally get it…. Life certainly seems like something on the opposite side of summer camp. 
Perception is everything. 
It comes down to choice and a few golden words.   I can choose to become the embodiment of my stress or I can acknowledge that I will do what I can and that will be good.  I can choose to be upset with myself for making mistakes or forgetting to do something or I can choose to acknowledge I am capable of mistakes and love myself unconditionally.  I can choose to see tasks as errands or I can see them as experiences meant to be lived.  And… when I come right down to it… how I acknowledge my choices is where the gold is.  If at the end of the day I say, “today was a great day,” and believe that 100% no matter what challenges I faced… life is good.
Bring on the campfires and s’mores…
I choose summer camp… life is good. 

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