Summer Camp Gets Rid of Negative Self-Image

Tag : Image Wear

If we were to summarize in a word why people, especially teens,wear masks, it would be FIMAGE.

What's FIMAGE? It's short for Fear of Image.

You don't have to look far into a group of young people to seeexamples of all the things they do to create an image. It's intheir clothing, music, language, attitude, hair, make-up, hobbies -even in their choice of friends. Why do people have an image? Tokeep themselves looking good. Some people spend a lot of timecreating and preserving their image. They avoid things that makethem look uncool; things that aren't good for their image. Theyfear damage to their image. That's FIMAGE.

SuperCamp grad Sarah Samuel wrote, "If you have FIMAGE, it meansyou aren't comfortable doing certain things because of fear of whatother people will think of you. You don't have self-confidence andyou're always worrying.

As teens go deeper into their exploration of their own FIMAGE, theycome to a major realization - by constantly fearing what willhappen if they don't maintain their image, life will pass them by.If they want to branch out, try new things, and find out who theyreally are, they have to let go of their image!

Camper Dominique DeRoche told us, "It was hard at first to let goof FIMAGE, but it made me feel better after I let go, and now I'mnot paranoid about how I appear to people."

In our process, teens have the opportunity to do some wacky thingsin front of their peers to practice letting go of their FIMAGE. Inthe context of a bunch of fun high-energy games, they can makecrazy faces, ridiculous sounds, or fall on the carpet writhing andscreaming. Nobody can look cool doing these things - that's thepoint. They can have the experience of looking uncool in front oftheir peers and being totally okay with it. We facilitators do itwith them, so it's all a big group experience. We take it to theextreme so they know they can take it to the middle on their own.In the end they realize that not only did they not get ridiculed orrejected, they actually had a lot of fun.

Teens speak with a lot of enthusiasm about life beyond FIMAGE."Letting go of FIMAGE makes your life greater because you let go ofthe insecurities you have about what others think of you," camperBre Steinbarth told us. "You open up and let others see you withoutyour mask. I created my own style, and I'm not afraid to act likemyself and talk to other people."

"It feels good letting go and being able to be a 'weirdo' and haveno one judge you," wrote camper Joe Dugan.

Camper James Ohnoki told us, "It's like taking a 100-pound bag ofrice off your shoulders, like finally being free after beingchained to a tree."

Camper Jordan Walton said, "I was able to show who I truly was forthe first time."
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SuperCamp is held at eight beautiful colleges across the U.S.throughout the summer. Quantum U takes place at Colorado College inColorado Springs. More information on our programs is available at www.supercamp.com and www.quantum-u.com . We also offer a unique 3-day Parent Weekend at which parents ofkids in SuperCamp gain an insight into what their children arelearning in their programs.
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