When you go to summer camp, you don’t just walk away with good friends and fun memories —  you walk away a stronger, happier person.

Regardless of where they come from and who they are, summer camp is designed to teach campers powerful life skills: how to be a leader, how to be a team player, and even how to discover your talents. Every skill camp teaches has one core thing in common: mindfulness.

High ropes, tall payoff 

Take the high ropes course, for example: learning the skills necessary to advance to the top doesn’t happen in a day. In fact, it doesn’t even happen in a year. Campers may not notice it at first, since the process of climbing is so fun, but by the time they’re old enough to become counselors they’ve learned years worth of technical skills.

The best part: it didn’t even feel like work, because the process of learning was so fun!

Enjoying the process  

The same is true for virtually every camp activity. At school, it’s sometimes easy to lose track of the big picture. Sure, you want to know how to do math in the long run, but the process of learning multiplication tables and algebraic equations usually feels long and tedious.

Campers, however, know how to be patient and relish challenges. Even if it takes years to reach a goal, it’ll feel like no time at all if you enjoy the process!

Living in the moment 

Mindfulness isn’t just about learning skills, though. Mindfulness is about learning to be happy and appreciate the people around you.

Free from the stresses of school and the “making the deadline” feeling of endless homework, campers are free to truly unwind and enjoy the moment. Camp keeps a busy schedule to fit in so many games, but it doesn’t feel “busy,” because you’re always having fun and the counselors are there to help you stay on track.

Mindfulness and patience aren’t the same thing, but they play into each other very strongly. Disconnecting from the “right now” attitude of the fast-paced school environment has huge emotional benefits for children of all ages. (Truth be told, counselors benefit from this just as much as campers!) It’s not easy for everyone to turn off their phone and iPad and learn to live in the moment, but the experience is that much richer because everyone is being challenged.

Rather than living for tomorrow, live for today. Rather than worry about homework, enjoy feeling at home. Don’t sweat the small stuff — the big picture is, we’re all in this together!