What does a community shaped by love look like? What are the hallmarks of a life full of love? After five years living and working at Glorieta, I’ve seen camp play a meaningful role in the lives of countless people looking to love others more fully. People are shaped in tangible ways when they experience a week of camp.
Today I’d like to share with you a few ways to treasure the people in your life — your family, your community, and yourself — whether you’re at home or at camp.
Camp naturally creates space for people to go deeper in their relationships. Adventures like ziplines or mountain biking bond friends as they face their fears together. Intentional spaces like a campfire or calm walk through the Prayer Garden create room for conversations. Families reconnect here, communities grow stronger together, and individuals experience rejuvenation. All of these experiences teach us more about what loving well can look like.
Loving Your Family Through Presence
Families who journey to camp together often comment on how much they enjoyed intentional family time while they were here. Camp forces you to slow down and focus on what you’re experiencing in each moment. Something powerful happens when families give one another undivided attention.
This kind of intentional family time is rooted in presence. Often, loving our families is as simple (and as difficult) as being present. Real, intentional presence says, I care. There is always more to learn about you. In our day-to-day lives, this kind of presence can be thoroughly difficult. But even small moments of intention and presence go a long way.
Try at home: This week, set aside a screen-free window with your family, whether that be at dinner, in the car, or somewhere else. Ask a question you wouldn’t normally ask, like, What’s one way you’ve grown this year that others might not see? You could be surprised where the conversation leads!
Families often call their annual trip to camp their “family new year.” Camp creates a space for families to pause and reconnect, even in hectic seasons. Even when at-home schedules continue to remain full, their time at camp serves as a yearly anchoring, a space to refocus on what matters most. Presence happens naturally at camp. Parents gain mental whitespace from not coordinating meals or schedules, families cheer each other on through adventure activities, and everyone finds themselves having conversations that don’t always happen at home. Shared experiences become core memories because they’re lived together without distraction.
Try at camp: Venture to Family Camp this summer. Or come out for a family reunion in the non-summer months. Camp is designed to bring your family closer together. Take advantage of that!
Caring for Your Community Through Purpose
Communities who show up for each other are vital in a world full of loneliness, noise, and constant scrolling. But vibrant communities have to be cultivated. They grow when people show up for one another, work toward shared goals, and take time to connect inside and outside their daily routines.
At camp, we value Group Development activities. The idea is for a group of people to gather and face intentional challenges together followed by reflection. Group D is extremely versatile. Corporate groups, students, hobbyists, and more have benefited from Group D at camp. Participants walk away feeling like they know and trust others in the group more than they did when they arrived.
The power of Group Development is that it aligns the group. When a group feels connected and unified, they can accomplish goals together with more ease, risk, and fun. Whether the group’s goal is to plan the next quarter at work or encourage each other to face their fears on an adventure activity later, the goals have so much more fulfillment and meaning when accomplished together.
Try at home: Think of one circle in your life you want to draw closer to. It could be your church group, book club, workout class, etc. What do you want to accomplish together? What could you accomplish together with more intention? Take one small step at cultivating those relationships.
Try at camp: Bring your group to camp for a non-summer retreat. Hit our mountain bike trails together. Join us for Community Day in August. Adventure to camp with your people and reap the benefits for months or years afterward.
Love Well by Caring for Yourself
Part of loving others well is taking good care of ourselves … something a lot of us can use more practice in! It’s easy to feel selfish for taking time away, especially when responsibilities pile up. But perspective and renewal rarely come when we’re running on empty.
At camp, people feel permission to pause. To breathe in fresh mountain air. To step outside of their routine. To ask, What do I really need right now? Whether the answer is rest and rejuvenation or adrenaline and adventure, people who come to camp for personal time often leave with exactly what they needed.
Try at home: What do you need right now? Can you find 15 minutes (more if you’re able) to give yourself what you truly need? If it’s rest, sit outside with no screens for 15 minutes and steep in the silence. If you need something to shake up your routine, try something brand-new to you for 15 minutes. That could look like following a dance video on YouTube, taking a night walk, or taking out your old craft bin. Small adventures count. Keep stacking them up!
Try at camp: Take a personal retreat to camp during our non-summer months. Hike, reflect, challenge yourself on activities. Or take a day trip to enjoy our High Five Zipline Adventure or explore our mountain bike trails. You’ll leave proud of yourself and with a story to tell!
When You Get Home
Intention transforms relationships. Camp is an amazing place to begin the journey of filling relationships with intention and love. But we don’t want you to only experience that at camp! When you go home, keep the journey going.
When you return home, take time to reflect with the people you came to camp with. Talk about what stood out, what you want to remember, and what you enjoyed most. Make a short list of everyday adventures or habits you want to try before your next visit to camp.
Most importantly, ask yourself: What do I want to keep from this experience? How do you want to keep showing up in love for yourself and your people?
