Our Camp Reset Story
There’s always a certain magic that brings us here. A fortuitous route, winding but true. For me, it all began with going back, pursuing a post-grad degree in what I’d always wanted to do. And it wasn’t long until I met someone who had recently attended Camp Reset. And then another, and another.
At first I thought it sounded a bit silly — why would someone need a digital detox? But it wasn’t long before I felt that need. These last few years we’ve all become more dependent on digital technology. Whether for work, play, or social activism, I’ve spent more time behind a screen than I ever imagined was possible. So when my friend mentioned that Reset was opening a personal tech-free community centre, I jumped at the chance to take part and became a Founding Member.
Stepping into the Reset Community Centre, I immediately felt at home. The warm, welcoming, spacious vibe allowed me to open up and connect with people. Making new friends became easy through the forgotten art of play.
Just Play, the Reset motto, made perfect sense to me. When we play, we’re no longer in survival mode. We’ve opened up to new ways of seeing and doing, new creative possibilities. And when we can do that, we’re on the path to accessibility, inclusivity, freedom and collective joy. A foundation for justice.
To help remove barriers and facilitate play, we don’t talk about work, but I can tell you that my skills lie in the realm of storytelling. And when the opportunity arose to join the Collective co-creating Camp, the Director of Story role grew organically, exactly where my passion was needed.
I strongly believe in story sovereignty and in the power of telling our stories to improve our lives and the lives of others. Your voice can shape the narrative. That’s why we decided to tell our Reset stories as a Collective — to help build trust in the community and to develop our own understanding of what we’re co-creating. I thank everyone for trusting me to honour their stories when sharing them here and across mediums. We hope they will be meaningful as we explore together.
For us, Reset is both a philosophical idea and an activity. Each member of the Collective has their own perspective that contributes to our evolving understanding. And how we enact it is what we’re exploring at Camp.
Fundamentally, we are worthy of rest and we need to disconnect from the cultural practices of production and the tools of technology that make that difficult. Stepping back and refocusing on connection and community helps me to re-centre and then re-engage in a more full-hearted way. While I absolutely love a roller coaster, a reset is getting off the highs and lows of constant life documentation, notifications, and performance, and reclaiming our time, hearts, and minds.
And ultimately, this is something we can’t do alone. A personal reset and a collective reset are how we move forward and begin to shape the world in new ways. Together, we are creating the world we want to live in, and we’ll come back to Reset again and again to help us do that.
This year will be my first time at Camp so I don’t fully know what to expect. Even as a co-creator, I’m leaving the door open to surprise. I do hope to experience rest, joy, wonder, and to make deep connections.
And what I hope to find and take back with me are guideposts — new experiences and understandings that let me know I’m on the right track and help me see where I’m going next in life. Subtle or big, something that leads to a radical shift and greater joy.
Something like one of my favourite memories of play — learning to kayak at summer camp. The absolute freedom I felt gliding over the water, padding as far as I could see, and the joy in practicing roll-overs and splashing my new friends in a game of bumper-kayaks. I learned a new skill and gained a new way of seeing the world. I felt confident and empowered.
There is power in play, in centering our joy. We can get stuck in doing what we need to, what we think we must in the day to day. But when we let go, when we reconnect with ourselves and others — and just play — that’s when the magic happens.
Hope to see you there…
Hummingbird
Director of Story
