Live by the Code: Positive Attitude
For our final blog post in the Falling Creek Code series, we’ll focus on Positive Attitude. The four values that make up the Code are Positive Attitude, Servant’s Heart, Moral Compass, and Warrior Spirit. Living by the Code is what we strive for as members of the Falling Creek Community, teaching and modeling these values through our activities and interactions every day.
Yesterday morning, Jack Long, one of our Tsuga Line Heads, had a very fitting Morning Watch message about Optimism. Optimism happens to be the theme for this week, and is closely related to Positive Attitude. “Optimism is an action,” he encouraged everyone, “and we have to live it out each day.” Jack emphasized the importance of mindset, and how we can’t control our thoughts or others’ words, but we can control our reactions. It was a great reminder to stay positive and actively seek joy as we headed into the day.
Since yesterday was Friday, we had several trips return from their adventures! Three of them had been on 5-day trips, including a climbing trip to Chattanooga, a paddling trip in three different states, and a backpacking trip to Linville Gorge. Trips are an exciting way to experience a specific activity in smaller groups. These adventures can also be a great way to practice Positive Attitude, since things don’t always go as planned.
One of the trips that returned yesterday was a 2-day climbing trip to Looking Glass. The weather didn’t cooperate with them on the first day, so they had to exercise their Positive Attitude when their plans changed. “We ended up taking everyone river running instead, and did some rock hopping and playing in the water instead of climbing.” said Scuba. Though they were rained out on the first day when they had planned to climb, they were able to be more spontaneous and still had a great time. They were able to go swimming, sing in the van, and roast marshmallows. If they had just let themselves stay upset about not being able to do plan A, they wouldn’t have been able to still have a great time. The next day, the sun was out again and they were able to climb Looking Glass. Trad told me, “I top belayed for the first time, and now I’m a Challenger in rock climbing!”
The 5-Day Linville backpacking trip was able to witness some beautiful views during their time in the Gorge. That was Charlie’s favorite part - “We did an evening hike to the Chimneys to watch the sunset and that was really cool”, he told me. Tate agreed, and when I asked him what his favorite part was, he said, “probably just the crazy views we saw.” One of their counselors, Andrew Krusen, said that his group was super positive the entire trip, which made the experience that much more fun. “It was a great group, relaxed the whole time,” he said. Andrew also knows that good food is the way to a good mood, and told me about the tastiest thing they made while in Linville. He sauteed some summer sausage in a pan until it was nice and sizzling, and then put tortillas in to fry one side in the sausage grease, along with Will Foushee’s favorite seasoning that he brought along. “It was delicious,” said Andrew.
While I was talking with the climbers and backpackers, the paddling van drove up, led by Tristan and Max. They were just returning from their 5-Day Big Skita trip, paddling the Chattahoochee River in GA, the Tellico and the Ocoee Rivers in TN, and the Green River Narrows here in NC. Though the five days had been a blast on different rivers each day, it also meant that there were long hours in the van getting to and from the rivers. Though some people might have been frustrated or bored to spend hours in the van, Tristan, Max, and John kept it fun for the campers by playing games and listening to great music. It’s hard to be negative when you’re around those three!
Max’s favorite part of the trip was running the two waterfalls on Wednesday. They paddled Baby Falls and Bald River Falls by the Tellico River in TN. It was a surprise for the campers each day to find out what river they were going to next, which kept the excitement high all five days. For the final day, they wrapped up the trip with a Class V rapid on the Green River Narrows, called Hammer Factor. The videos and photos from the adventure were just as epic as you’d imagine!
One of the mountain bike trips returned shortly after Max and Tristan drove away to put up the boats. This group had been biking in Dupont State Forest all day, and were blasting music as they pulled up, with the whole group having a great time. Gilpin and Lew were leading this trip, and said that their group had been positive all day, especially Sam W. “Sam was so pumped, even when riding up the hills!,” said Gilpin. Positive attitude is contagious, so just one camper setting an optimistic tone for the day can have great ripple effects on the mood of the whole group.
No matter where the trips went or what activities they did this week, one thing was the same for them all. Each van that drove in was full of tired, happy, smiling faces, ready to share stories about all the positive things they did and saw during their adventures. We’re looking forward to enjoying the weekend together, and then jumping into our last week of Main Camp already!