Good things are worth talking about
Why you must share the ‘good’ you know.
Hey! It’s good to be back. Have you ever been so caught up in an experience that you are rendered speechless? That’s what YWAP boothcamp always does to me. This amazing annual summer camp is my New Year’s reset. It is meeting my family from all over the world and reconnecting with them. Meeting new people, getting refreshed, recharged and also retreating from the rest of the world for 7 days. It is like that cool breeze blowing over you on a hot day. The kind whose gust makes everything slow down or standstill except your senses are sharpened and you savour every caress on your skin.
I recently discovered that I have not ‘talked’ about it as much as I had thought. I mean why is this the first time I am mentioning it here, when it has practically changed my life since my first experience in 2016?
I like to think I am a private person. I don’t like to get personal except if it becomes pertinent. And what makes it pertinent to me is that the information will help others, either to heal or make better choices. Those are my conditions for ‘oversharing’. Regardless, I have noticed a pattern in my writing. I may experience something deeply profound and while I am caught up in the symphony of processing it all, I never talk about it. I become so enraptured in the melody and its echoes, that by the time I am done processing, another one has happened, so the cycle continues. This is why I have still not shared the 24 lessons I learned from the Gold Coast (Ghana) when I was 23 going on 24. This is why we are where we’re were we’re said VPYO of Nigeria.
That’s about to change though. And I want to start by talking about YWAP. YWAP is an acronym for Youth With A Purpose Initiative and ever since I came in contact with YWAP in 2014, my life has been irrevocably altered. And I mean this in every single way possible. There is no way to talk about this family without sounding like a groupie or a raving fan girl — I am proudly both. And honestly, it has been such a pleasure to watch God move in my world, my generation and my country through this organization and its young people.
After over three years of not having a physical summer camp, we convened in the capital city of Nigeria, Abuja with great excitement. This fever of delight was washing over us, old and new members alike. Like thirsty souls we trooped, we’d been denied the pleasure and vital gift of each other’s company you see. It was like the first showers of rain after a long drought. I won’t lie and say it was smooth and seamless. No, it was a lot like relearning to walk after your muscles have atrophied from disuse. But it was worth every second. This time, camp happened and we loved it. It was chaotic, it was comforting, refreshing and at the same time uncomfortable in the way only growth can make you. It was loud and it was quickening, it was hilarious and it was intense in the balanced way only family gatherings can create.
I recently read an article about how perfectionism stops us from sharing art. This is why I am going to stop here and actually click publish after leaving this in my drafts for weeks. I look forward to writing about Boothcamp XVII in particular. My role in it, the way it changed me, and the tears I shed in between. But for now, I shall stop here with a few pictures from different parts of being in YWAP over the years. You can watch my reel on IG here for a fuller story.
For now, I hope you learn just as I am learning, to talk about the good things in your life. Because they matter and they are indeed worth talking about. What is one event or occasion that has changed or marked your life forever? Please share. I will be looking keenly at the responses.
Love, Ballie💖
If you enjoyed reading this, please help make this post more visible to those who may like it or learn from it by clapping as many times as you can (50x). I want to hear from you on this. What is one event or occasion that has changed or marked your life forever? Please share. I will be looking keenly at the responses.
