It has been a stressful few weeks, good stress, but stressful nonetheless. In fact, I was so caught up in all of the things I have to do that I completely forgot about Manadoob until one of my members yelled from the gym to the teen center balcony, about five minutes before the class started, that she was excited about Manadoob. So I scrambled to find a staff to watch the teens and get everything ready. As soon as that happened, and the Manadoob kids had lined up, another situation arose that not only took my attention but displaced us from our regular meeting area. By the time we got into the board room, where we normally have our meetings, I felt as if I was going to explode as I was pulled in 20 different directions. I was a little bit flustered, and, given how the Manadoob class so often is a reflection of where I am, I was a little bit worried.
Many of you probably saw this coming, but the class went very well, and, by the end of it, I realized what a calm little oasis I have in the middle of my Thursdays every week. Everything outside of Manadoob, including me, was crazy and hectic, but for an hour I had a break from all of it as I got to reconnect with some of the younger members and find some serenity.
I also discovered that I was a little bit ahead of where I need to be, and we started with Chapter 21 which is huge and packed full of topics, so I held the class to one chapter and just generally let it flow wherever they wanted to take it. I usually do that to some extent, but I let them get more off task than I normally would have, and it turned into a wonderful session with one of the most fun and engaging on the spot activities I have tried.
We talked a lot about courage, facing our fears and what that changes in our lives. Perhaps the most insightful answers came when I challenged them to tell me what changed after they faced their fears that made them less afraid. I asked if they thought something had changed in the world or if it had been a change inside of themselves. This question prompted deep thought for all of the members, and CS specifically had a moment of clarity and revelation. It seemed obvious to him that something had changed in the outside world, but, as soon as he said that he said "Oh, wait, I guess it changed inside of me." That prompted a discussion of the fact that fear, even though it is good and keeps us safe, can sometimes grow inside of our minds to and make us more afraid of something than is healthy and natural.
After this discussion, we all shared times that we had been courageous despite our fears, and how it had changed our lives and the ways we viewed things. We also had a special guest in the form of a former member who came to the Club to visit me and sat in with us for a little while. She won our Youth of the Year competition in 2010 and talked about her fear of public speaking and how, after the many speeches she had to give, that fear went away. She said she was still nervous before speeches but that the fear was gone. I took that opportunity to point out how being nervous is good because it means you have something invested, that you care, and I told them about how, after 100s of basketball games, I still got nervous before I took the floor in high school.
We ended the class with a suggestion from the Manadoob workbook to write down three things that make you angry and say them out loud. The kids got so carried away that we went through five things. I had them write down all of their ideas, and then we counted to three and all shouted them together. It was surprisingly cathartic and prompted quite a bit of laughter, and I had to make them stop so that we could move on and I could get back to my responsibilities.
It really was a wonderful class, and helped me release some of the tension that I had built up over the previous four days; it had all of the great things about Manadoob: narrative, self-reflection, writing, conversation, and unexpected impromptu fun.
Cheers All
Ryan
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