Member-only story
The youth group, Confident Champions, gathered in the small school theatre after the final Wednesday class. They stood in a circle for their warm-up ritual, beginning with calling out the letter they identified with. For example, “Z, X, G, J, O.” The second time around the circle, they called out their letter, adding a five-gesture or less mood sequence. Flapping hands indicated anxiety, and meltdown loomed right around the corner if the hands expanded into flapping arms. When flapping arms were used, the rest of the group immediately grabbed an air rope and anchored the flapper, allowing them to melt down safely.
The group first met as a peer support group. Each of them experienced various forms of being bullied, and they took turns sharing their stories and discussing ways they could boost their confidence. Then, one day, O exclaimed, “We identify as lacking the confidence to stand up for ourselves, but I think we should identify as confident.”
“But, we do lack confidence,” G protested.
“I am confident I get picked on. I’m confident I’m insecure. I’m confident I frequently feel defeated, and I spend hours in my room, crying,” O stated. “I am confident these things are true.”
The rest of the youth joined in, listing things they were confident of, including not being very good at sports, disliking getting picked on, and the color of their eyes, amongst other things. The more they wrote, drew and sang songs about their many confident qualities, the more excited they got.
