Overcoming fear: my Young Leader experience

My guiding name is Caterpillar and I've been with 1st St. James Rainbow unit for a little over a year now.

I've always struggled with talking in front of large groups due to having anxiety. I spoke to my mentor, Lesley, who suggested that I run opening games every Tuesday that we meet. This started alarm bells ringing in my head - what if I mess up? What if the girls don't listen? What if I cant do it? These thoughts were obviously not helpful. I came up with some steps to help me:

I have been running the opening games now for the past month and it's going really well! I'm slowly becoming more confident in myself and I'm not panicking when I have to explain to the girls what game we will be playing. Another leader said that I did brilliantly. It's been a long journey to overcome this but I'm getting there.

One of the activities that I ran was a 'Memory Game'. We printed out pictures of different items and colours. The girls then had to pair up the different items once they were scattered on the floor. What I have learned from the experience is that I can run an opening game by myself and that I'm capable of doing anything I put my mind to!

I have included the plan for the meeting that I used and will keep you updated on how things go!