Over the summer, I went to my very first boys and girls sleep away camp in Greenville, South Carolina. It was the most fun I've ever had and I made amazing friends that I hope to stay in touch with for a while.

Before going to this camp though, I was extremely shy and had really bad anxiety. I was super nervous about whether people would like me or not and I would never do anything outgoing in school. I had really bad anxiety and never wanted to meet new people, I was perfectly fine staying in my little bubble. I was like this for a good three years that was until I decided to go out on a limb and head off to Camp Greenville by myself for a week of White Water rafting.

I arrived at camp on June 25 and headed to meet my camping buddies for the week. As soon as I got there and made my bed, Georgia* had offered to show me around the camp with her friends Samantha* and Elizabeth*. They were all super accepting and so much fun to talk to. The thing was that they dressed like the popular girls at my school; they wore the Simply Southern shirts and had amazingly straight hair and their faces were free of any zits. They were the kind of people I would never had talked to if I had the choice. Georgia, Samantha, and Elizabeth were all extremely nice and easy to talk to though. Later that night I met the rest of the guys that were also going on the camping trip with us. Everyone was super funny and I immediately felt right at home. Soon came the time for us all to leave to go to our first camping sight. The first car trip was awkward of course but as the week went on and we all got to know each other more through card games, long bus trips, and whitewater rafting I began to talk more.

The end of the week came and we were back at camp. It was around ten and we had decided to do a rose and thorn kind of talk. Each person decided to share the worst moment of their life and then the best part. This was where my shy shell finally fell off and I revealed the scariest and darkest moment of my life to them. I have never grown as close to someone as I did to the people in that group within that one week. I still talk to them and it has helped so much with my shy nature.

I have been so much more outgoing and talking to so many new people. I've done things that would've caused me anxiety had I done it a few months ago, but because of my camp experience, I've been able to break free of being shy and make many new friends and do things I would have never even imagined.

*Names have been changed for privacy of those individuals.