By Lisa Mangum, author of Write Fearless. Edit Smart. Get Published.

Fear can be a funny thing. It can be both common and highly specific. We can feel it as just a brush on our skin or as a boulder on our shoulders. It can hold us back . . . or it can make us brave. 

In 2017, I gathered eleven of my friends and formed a team to participate in GISHWHES—the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen. The rules were simple: For the first week of August, teams from all over the world would compete to accomplish more than 200 items designed to challenge our creativity, our courage, and our kindness. Each item would require either photographic or video evidence of completion and would be awarded a varying number of points.  

We would be “gaming for good” by raising money for charity, by making art, and by helping families and friends in our communities. 

Some of the challenges were silly: “#15: Groucho Marx a piece of fruit. No, we don’t know what this means either, but we’re excited to see what you come up with.” 

Some of them were inspiring: “#35: Hand a bouquet of flowers (or a single flower) to a person leaving a house of worship that is not your religion. For example, if you are a Christian, you could hand a bouquet of flowers to someone leaving a mosque. If you’re Jewish, hand flowers to someone at a Christian church, etc. With the flowers, attach a note saying something in your own words, but to the effect of: ‘I may not worship in the same building as you, and I may not pray to the same prophets, but I am grateful to be sharing this planet with you in peace.’” 

For anyone insecure about making a spectacle of themselves in public, some of them were downright terrifying: “#90: ‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’ There’s no better crossing guard than a mother hen! Dressed as a chicken, offer to help people cross a busy street.” (Thanks, Jessica, for tackling this one!) 

As captain of our team, I was feeling overwhelmed and intimidated by the whole event, and I could tell my teammates were feeling the same way. So I made a new rule for our team: “It’s okay to be afraid. You just have to try one item, and if you have fun doing it—even if you don’t complete it—then you win.” 

As the scavenger hunt started and the countdown began, we all took a deep breath, held hands, and jumped in together. 

Immediately, I started getting messages from my teammates about the long list of challenges.  

“I don’t know where to start.”  

“I don’t know how to do that one.”  

“I’m not brave enough to try that one!” 

Each time, I helped them brainstorm ways to get started. I encouraged them to just give it a try. I reminded them that the end result didn’t have to be perfect or even good—the goal (and the joy) was the attempt. 

It didn’t take long before everyone on our team had accomplished at least one task, and then the floodgates opened. We had channeled our fear into courage, and suddenly it was less “I don’t know what to do” and more “Ooh, I want to try that one!” 

#89: Apply lipstick while jumping on a trampoline. 

#94: Camouflage yourself in a pet store. 

#112: A ballet troupe in tutus, engaged in a bar brawl—freeze framed at its most climactic moment. 

For a whole week, we made art, we helped people, we tried new things (and failed a lot), and we laughed and cheered each other every step of the way. 

We didn’t win GISHWHES that year, but that wasn’t our goal. We just wanted to challenge ourselves and have fun. Mission accomplished. 

I eventually captained twelve GISH teams between 2017 and 2022, and somehow during the days of the Hunt, I became a braver, more confident, more creative person that I was during the rest of the year. Yes, I always felt a moment of fear when the list dropped for each Hunt, but I allowed myself to feel the fear, then I stepped beyond it into a world of self-expression, curiosity, and discovery. 

I didn’t know I could get a bull’s-eye in axe throwing—until I did. 

I didn’t know I could karaoke “Under the Sea” in a bar—until I did. 

I didn’t know I could make a portrait of my childhood hero out of flower petals—until I did. 

The lessons I learned from GISH carried over into my life as a writer as well. Yes, when I sit down in front of a blank page, I still feel a moment of fear, but I simply allow myself to feel it, then I take a deep breath and start writing some words. They don’t have to be perfect. They don’t even have to be good. The goal (and the joy) is the attempt. 

And I have found that when I give myself permission to try, then it doesn’t matter if I succeed or fail. What matters is having fun being creative and in cheering on the people who are alongside me on the journey. 

I believe we all have a story inside of us that we are uniquely qualified to tell. Maybe the idea of writing down that story scares you. Maybe you don’t know how to start. Maybe you think that it won’t help anyone. 

But maybe, you can feel that fear and do it anyway. 

GISH has been retired for the last few years, but I’d like to challenge you to try one last item from the Hunt: 

Item #53: The world around us is filled with small moments of magic, if you remember to look for them. Be still somewhere and contemplate the world until you notice something magical—a particular blade of grass, the way ants seem to greet each other as they work, a shiny coin on a dirty city street…. You get the idea. Write a poem about what you observe and your relation to it that is titled “Magic” but has no direct reference to magic—just references to what you experienced. (52 points) 

Be brave. Be bold. Have fun. Tell your story. 

---

NEW! Write Fearless. Edit Smart. Get Published. Wherever you are in your author’s journey, this book is like teaming up with a personal writing coach who has more than a quarter of a century of editorial and publishing advice.