Thank you Alex

I went to a camp over spring break and I just wanted to take time and thank a person who helped me out a lot.

Alex ** is a name that has been stack in my head since last Friday. I went to a reunion with a group of friends that I met at a spring break camp. This camp was so much more than I expected, I was pushed to limits that I was not ready for. At this camp we were encouraged to be vulnerable which is not my strongest point, I do not enjoy talking about my feelings, In fact , I enjoy friendships that are built on shared interests rather than from “connection”. What I mean with by “connection” is when people come together because they feel that they have experienced similar traumas/happy moments that you have also experienced. This camp was different because we were essentially pushed to make connections with people that we had previously never met. In all honesty, I do not think that I made the best out of this camp. I was very hesitant to speak up and I often played the role of consoling other people. But not until Wednesday night, at this point we had been at camp for about 3 days and people had really opened up. I am not sure what triggered me but throughout the day I started feeling very emotional and as a result I began being distant with everyone. I did not event want to talk to my boyfriend because I was scared that I was going to break down of he asked me how I was doing.

                So, on Wednesday night it was time for our nightly group discussion with the people in my cluster. In this cluster there was a girl who I did not like because I felt that she was taking up too much space and demanded a lot of attention. However, that night I felt intimidated by her. She had shared a story that I related with and I was jealous that she was able to speak out about and issues that was literally haunting me. So we went around the room and as it got closer and closer to my turn, I could not hold it in anymore. I started crying and no matter how hard I tried to hold it, I was not able to. I decided to walk out the class and I went and sat at a cliff. I cried out loud for about 5 minutes because everything that I had been holding inside was eating me alive. In the midst of my break down, I heard the door open and I saw that someone had left the class. I tried to dry my tears but my sweater was soaking wet so I think I made it worse. Then the person who left the class came and sat next to me. It was Alex; I didn’t want to look at him because I was a mess but he just sat there with me and didn’t say a word. Then, when he noticed that I was slowly y calming down, he told me that I did not have to tell him what was the problem, he said that he was there for me and he was going to sit with me until I was done. He hugged me and we both stayed quiet. After a couple minutes I thanked him and he said he saw that I had a lot of things bothering me and that if I ever wanted to talk, I should reach out to him.

                If you are reading this you are probably wondering way Alex is so important. The truth is that Alex and I had not spoken to each other that much at camp. We would occasionally say hi, but nothing more. Yet, on that night, he was there for me and he did not demand or expect anything in return. I value people who are selfless like Alex and I guess this sis my way of telling him thank you.  Alex was a stranger to me and on that night he consoled me and even though I never got to tell him what was bothering me, I felt so much better after sitting with him.  I really hope I can do this for someone and not because it was done for me but because it is the right thing to do. You never know what demons someone is battling with but if you can help that person get rid of at least one demon then you might have saved that person from another day of misery