A wise man once said, “You may not be able to control every situation and its outcome but you can control your attitude and how you deal with it.” I feel as if this could not be truer. The circumstances you are put through is not what shapes you as a person, it’s how you deal with the circumstance and how you move on. This past summer I went to a camp with my youth group and we were placed in teams. From the get-go, you could see we were not only the smallest team in size, but we were also the smallest in stature. The first game time we all dressed up. We were team hardcore so we were in all black and we had our nails painted black as well as matching eyeliner below our eyes. We also put some temporary tattoos on our faces to achieve full edginess. It was hot, we were in the middle of nowhere and we had eyeliner dripping down our faces. We started losing the games, there were many times that we said stuff like, “What’s the point?” and “Why try?”

Our counselors tried to get us excited and into it but the knew it was ultimately our decision how we were gonna feel. After the first day, our team realized that we should at least try to have fun. So the next day we went to sports having a new refreshing look at how we were going to act. We all went out and had a ton of fun. We even ended up winning some games. It’s all about our strengths. When other teams would lose a game and get upset we realized that that’s what we could’ve been like, we could’ve been so consumed by winning that it would’ve stopped being fun. Our team always dressed up and we always were loud and full of joy. Having the small team turned out to be very beneficial because we ended up getting close and we got to spend time together talking and bonding with one another in a more personal way than the other teams were able to. We always made sure we lifted each other up and helped them out. In the end, we ended up getting third place which we were more than happy to take because we thought we were in last place. Another added award that our team got was 1st place in spirit award because others saw us and our kind acts and recognized that we were doing something different than the other teams. All and all, I learned the important lesson that even though times might be rough if you keep a good spirit and always try to find the positive you can get through and have fun.