I'll Take Your Fear

To Play:

1. One person volunteers and tells the group something they’re afraid of. Ex: “I’m afraid of spiders.”

2. All the people who are not afraid of spiders stand up or raise their hands.

3. The leader picks one person who stood up or raised their hand.

4. The person chosen says, “I’m not afraid of spiders. I’ll take your fear.”

5. The person taking the fear reaches out their arms and the person giving the fear hands it to them from a distance.

6. The person who gave the fear says, “Thank you for taking my fear of ___”

7. The person who receives the fear, says, “You’re welcome.” And they decide what to do with the fear. They can throw the fear away or play with it if they choose.

8. That person then tells the group a fear of her own.

9. All the people who are not afraid of that, stand up or raise hands.

10. Keep following the sequence of steps until everyone who wants a turn has one.

Debrief

1. How did it feel for someone to “take” your fear?

2. What did you notice about this exercise?

3. Do you think you’ll always be afraid of the same things in your life?

4. Can you overcome fears? How?

5. Not everyone has the same fears. How do we get fears?

6. Are there universal fears? How do those fears connect us?