"Living life to the fullest" is something people have always said to do, it's one of the common themes of life in the 21st century. In the form of "yolo," or in peoples' bucket lists, people are always expressing that you should do things while you can. Growing up, I was always a very cautious person. I didn't do things that I thought were out of the ordinary because I was afraid of getting in trouble. In other words, while growing up in a world where people were always taking risks because they would "only live once," I didn't take risks. I didn't do anything different than exactly what I was told to do.
Every summer for the past six years, I've gone to a co-ed sleep away camp. Since I've been with the same exact people every year, I've grown very close to the 25 boys and girls I was friends with. However, I never allowed myself to socialize with the 27 other people in my age group. This year, instead of staying in cabins of 14-16 people and doing all activities with your cabin like we've done in previous years, we stayed in tents of 6 people and did all activities together, as one community. This allowed for everyone in my age group to intermix and become friends with each other. Because of this, so much changed that summer. On the first night of camp, everyone stood around in their existing groups, not saying anything to the people who weren't in their cabins in previous summers. On the last night, everyone sat in a big circle together, talking and crying because the best summer of our lives would be over in a few short hours. I never thought that talking to people in different friend groups at camp would enhance my experience, but it did by so much. People I didn't even know existed became some of my very best friends. One day, one of the people I had never met before the summer, but became good friends with had to go home due to a terrible injury. That night, in my journal, I wrote "It's crazy how much someone could mean to me after only knowing him for 2 weeks. I already miss them so much and I know things aren't going to be the same without him."
That same summer, a guest speaker came in and talked to us about living life to the fullest. At first, I thought it would be just another speech about taking risks. While taking risks was mentioned, the talk was so much more than that. I realized that the expression "you get out what you put in" has so much truth to it. Later that day, we all had some downtime and it was very hot outside. While we couldn't go to the pool at the time, we knew that there was a little lagoon near where our tents were. We all, very spontaneously, jumped into the lagoon at once, helping each other avoid slippery and pointy rocks. The decision to swim in the lake was so spontaneous, that we were all still wearing running shorts and t-shirts when we jumped in. It wasn't something I normally would've done, but I'm so happy I did it. In the song “Geronimo” by Sheppard, they say “bombs away, bombs away.” This is how I felt swimming in the lagoon with my friends, old and new. It felt like every worry, every bomb, was being lifted away because nothing mattered. Nothing mattered because I was happier than I had ever been.
Looking back on this experience, I'm so happy I "lived life to the fullest." Through one summer of incredible "yolo" experiences, I learned the true meaning of these common phrases that are often used loosely. Thanks to this experience, I live every day by "getting out what I put in."
