Understanding Missing Summer Camp – A Psychological Approach

This particular blog is an attempt to share with you in a different way. It is a dream I keep having. It’s different from telling the great things about camp and how we have to keep our memories precious. But it shows how dreams can reveal some things.

You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain though you’re thinking that you’re leaving there too soon.

I keep having a reacurring dream that I am at camp and trying to direct it but I am tired and don’t know if I can do it.

The other staff are telling me I’m not good enough for the job. I look around and decided that with me not there helping, the kids are all over and things aren’t very safe. No one knows me too well anymore. And then all the sudden things get out of hand especially with alcohol and they need me to tell everyone to go home and I hurry everyone back to Owen Sound from camp.

Psychology and this dream would mean that I still think of camp that somehow I think something is unfinished. That I am trying to regain my spot or role there. That I am not really wanted at camp again until there is a big problem. Other people want a turn to manage the camp.

Sometime in dreams we can pretend to be all the characters. But then maybe I am the other characters. Maybe I am telling myself I don’t really want to be there. Maybe I am drinking alcohol and am drunk in some way even though I don’t drink. Maybe I am getting out of hand and have to take myself back to Owen Sound.

Here is yet another approach. In the dream there is the cabin…. I’m outside the cabin accessing the situation. I’m out of my comfort zone a bit. I’m looking at some different more risky play than I’m used to. The kids are together. The kids are in water. Is it cold water… is it safe water? The man and woman are there, the woman is talking to me. Telling me I’m not good enough and the man is silent. The dining hall is full of rowdy teenagers and young adults and they are about to hurt one another. Before they hurt one another I tell them all to go home and stop drinking alcohol.

I still remember so many good memories from camp… the songs, the campfires, the love and the friendships. I just wanted to share the fact that when we miss something we sometimes can’t figure out what to do about unfinished feelings. Dreams can help us to know more about ourselves. Maybe this dream was a way of checking back to summer camp and having some mixed feelings about that. As adults grow older summer camp can be feel different than it once did. Maybe I was realizing that I was in a different place but not quite letting go because I was important to camp and camp was important to me.

when I flew home to camp I found some things I didn’t expect! It wasn’t quite the same as before.

Wellness and Camp

There were some problems at camp. Mental health wasn’t dealt with just in older adult years. What were some of the ways we dealt with mental health issues at camp?

I remember that things weren’t labeled as much. If a child was upset we tried to help and then they became less upset. Being upset didn’t last longer than necessary. The goal was to get the kids back in the game. Back being able to participate and being able to join in the activities.

I have learned that time outs are more about being patient with yourself. Taking the time to cool off… let yourself come back to who you are and quieting down so you can hear the good thoughts inside.

We used time outs at camp a lot. But they were short and that’s why I liked them with kids. The kids only needed a few minutes away to be able to join back up again.

Sometimes kids have their own time outs. That’s why I write in a poem even the kids on the side-lines win the game. Being part of things when you are not in the action is important to children. It’s important to acknowledge that the watchers are important to the games we play.

I’ve been a watcher. When I’ve had to take medication and when I’ve been tired. I’ve watched many things and I remember many things to write about and to try and understand. Sometimes I can draw things because I’ve been able to watch life happening.

Some kids watch because they are not sure how to join in. Some kids simply watch because that is best for them at the time. You can watch with your eyes or you can watch just by being present.

Mindfulness helps with watching. Observing what is in front of you on this day in this experience. How are you breathing, how are your feelings, what do you see, what do you hear, what do you taste…. what are the things around you. Can you say a few of the items you see. What colour are they? What shape are they?

Often bringing things back to where we are…. and seeing a colour like purple will help us to feel better. We can let go a little. Our feelings dissolve a little and we are left feeling peaceful.

It’s been many years since I’ve been at camp. It helps to know that kids that were upset were important to the experience. It helps to know that we helped kids to join in and to watch at times. Camp is a special place. I miss summer camp and I hope that I can write more about camp. Thanks for listening to me write and I hope you have a good day!