The ritual responsibilities of our lives are vast, all encompassing, and start from a very young age. We all have our own unique combination of them, but we all have them.
All. The. Time.
Except in some very unique moments where we drop those self-imposed rituals of responsibility, moments we categorize as “escapes.” We escape on vacation, we escape for momentary breaks like creating some “me time” or mental health days, though those have predictable patterns as well.
And of course there’s retirement, the time we tell ourselves all our hard work is going to pay off and make the daily practices of the present, worth it. That means spending your entire life being one thing only to flip 180 degrees in the last years of your life, no longer able to take advantage of a big change, doing just that. But what other time do we have?
There’s one other time and place we allow our labels and expectations to fall away: CAMP. Camp has no degrees, no gold watches, no negotiations or even any societal responsibilities. Through this lens, camp’s not even a time or place, but a state of mind. One where the “jock” loves being in chorus, the “nerd” discovers white water rafting, and the “wallflower” lets their hair down. We feel free to drop expectations and try things, explore, let curiosity guide our way… because we can! When we’re left to our own devices, truly left to let our individuality shine, we let experiences, not our self-imposed labels, lead the way.
An always-ready doorway to that state of mind is exactly what Prax aims to keep in your pocket. This Micropractice platform is designed to extend beyond the borders of childhood camp, and bring it into our lives, no matter where we happen to be. Instead of counselors, there are experts across all disciplines offering you short prompts that let curiosity and creativity dictate how you respond. Tentatively, daringly, flailingly… it doesn’t matter as long as you try. Not for the sake of a goal, but for the sake of itself, because it’s fun! Bringing the joy into the action, not the goal you can attain with it, is no longer solely for the summer camper, it’s the promise of an entire life as a praxer.
So when you find yourself exploring the various prompts on Prax, don’t ask yourself how it will look on a CV, just give it a try, see how it feels, enjoy the creative moment it offers for its own sake, and see where it takes you. It may not be camp, but with Prax, it never has to end.
