Atkinson—Leadership Adventure 05/04/26

    Going off of my previous blog about bonding over trips, I was reminded of my experience at leadership adventure last summer. I’ve found that when a group of people is on a trip or experience together of some kind, they get wrapped up in the moment and feel so uniquely bonded, like no one else would understand how well they know each other. But after the trip ends, communication dwindles and the bonds fade. I remember our cabin felt like we had undergone an almost spiritual experience together in the ways that we had shared about our lives and talked with and counseled each other. Living in that bubble together for a week wasn’t long, but it was enough to convince us that we had found our college group. But by the time that fall came, we never actually ended up meeting again. And by winter, many of us stopped even waving as we passed by. This is not always the way such experiences go, but in my life, I rarely get to continue the bonds forged on trips/adventures. I wonder why that is, perhaps it is the amount of time spent, or the lack of real depth reached. Or maybe it is the fact that the shock of the real world has always been too much for those bonds to handle.