I get a lot of email that demonstrates what I call Scouter Stress. Stress is a response of the body to any demand made on it. Scouter Stress is how your body deals with the demands of being a volunteer or professional Scouter. Much of what you do to relieve this stress depends on your ability to resolve yourself in being the best Scouter you can be, and not to be totally consumed on being the next Norman Rockwell Scoutmaster.

See if you can place yourself in any of these situations; I know that I can:

• Finding out a District- or Council-level meeting you’re interested in occurs the same night as one of your “boring, mundane, or inactioned” unit meetings or committee meetings.
  
• Sighing heavily as you leave for your unit’s weekly meeting, or before “the gang” arrives at your home for their meeting.
  
• Worrying constantly about whether or not you have “met all of the prerequisites” for your unit’s participation in summer camp or a weekend camp….you spend hours on the phone.
  
• Fear of doing anything outside of the position you’ve had for years because you do not feel you are ready or capable of doing those things.
  
• Volunteering for almost every significant task that comes up within the District or Council. You know that if you or one of the others “in your circle” doesn’t volunteer, it will not be done … and the bottom line: it will impede the ability for the event to really work the way it’s supposed to.
  
• When returning from a Scouting activity, the “high” you used to feel when you started (years ago), has been replaced by worry, doubt and resignation. “Oh well, another meeting is down.”
  
• Pounding headaches toward the end of a day when you are scheduled to “do Scouting.” Upset stomach, tight neck and shoulders, or eyestrain? Do you routinely experience any of these before, during or after unit activities?
  
• You are concerned about doing everything the way it has been trained to you, or the way that it is portrayed in the Scouting literature. When you cannot get it done that way, you are consumed with worry and fear that “Scouting’s not what I’m good at.”

All of these instances are taken from actual email sent to me since I’ve been online in 1989. There are lots of variations on those themes, but basically it comes down to four main issues that I’ll discuss below:

“Do it By The Book. Period.”
The first fear is “I’m not doing it the way the BSA, my Council, or the people who trained me says it must be done, so I could be ruining these boys’ chances for Eagle, Arrow of Light, or some other honor if I don’t do it exactly as written in the books.”

Many Scouters have also expressed fears of their Commissioner or professional: “If he sees that I’m not doing things exactly as the book says, the unit can be taken away from me.”

Yes, absolutely, if you are running a junior hate club, or a prostitution ring as your unit’s program. You can bet the BSA will come down heavy with both feet and remove you from the BSA. The BSA has some rather definite rules; but, they’re rules which are spelled out and easy&endash;to&endash;understand for ALL of its units. We all know those rules: no criminal behavior, no gambling, no military-type activities, no gang-related activities. None of those activities fit in as part of the program of a Cub Scout Pack, Boy Scout Troop, or Exploring unit.

What we are NOT so clear on, and what the BSA’s literature is very foggy on, are those questions concerning task organization and roles. Do you have to have an Assistant Senior Patrol Leader?? Do you have to have a Scribe, a Quartermaster, and a Librarian?

Be assured that if you are trying to emulate the basic program of the BSA, nobody should complain. If you are working the basics of the program with what you have, don’t worry about if your program is stacking up to the standard. Instead, worry on whether or not those youth in your unit are enjoying the experience, if they are advancing, and if they are feeling that the time and energies expended are worthwhile. That’s taking the program to them.

Just be consistent in what you do. That’s the key, and that is what the program is patterned to work out.

“I Did It By the Book, But It Didn’t Work. I Failed.”
The second main source of Scouter Stress is the frustration which comes from trying to do things the way that the books suggest, or the way it was taught, or the way that others I’ve talked with say it should go... and failing.

Everyone fails. The beauty of Scouting is that nobody is going to dock any pay from you for your failure or the failure of your youth leaders. From the outside, who knows except you and your youth leaders, that you have failed? Don’t give up on having your youth leaders to take responsibility for the Troop program and activities just because “it didn’t work” the first month or first overnight trip.

Your youth leaders have to be in the HABIT of running the show, and not as “an experiment to see if you can do it.” It’s a permanent change. Once they see that you’re not going to change your mind and take their roles back from them, they will see that it is truly up to them. They’ll try harder... and that’s what you are wanting to do: modify behavior to develop leadership.

Many times, we Scouters want to insure that everything is going to work the way its supposed to. We usually over-extend ourselves just trying to cover all bases.

Don’t beat yourself up (or anyone else!) for the lack of a perfect program. It doesn’t exist. In all of my years as a primary Scouter, I have yet to see it... not even during the training courses, which are supposed to perfect!

We all try to make Scouting somehow become a “cookie cutter” program. All of our activities are like the little pre-formed animals and shapes that we use to sculpt the cookie dough. We use different sizes and shapes of cutters to maximize our usage of the program “dough.” What’s leftover is discarded, since nothing could be made of it. And what about our program? When our program doesn’t fit into one of the pre-fab shapes or designs, we want to reshape the program or discard it since nothing could be made of it. We end up wasting resources and valuable time. That’s wrong.

Even a small unit can reap the benefits from a good program. Do the best you can to carry out the established program. If for some reason it doesn’t fit your “cutter,” instead of reshaping, how about continuing onward with what you do have? The result may be that you’ve stumbled onto a new concept in delivering the program and the Promise of Scouting to youth... and you didn’t even know it!

Who’s Watching You?
The third stress is the fear of the outsiders and the other parts of the program. For a large number of Scouters, they are scared to do anything but their unit role, because “in order to be a District whatchamacallit, you have to really know your stuff and I’ve only been a Scoutmaster for two years!”; or “I don’t have the background necessary to do a District or Council job. Give it to those others that have all of those things and badges and stuff... “ For other Scouters, its not so much the fear of the increased chances to work with others, as it is the fear that those others will strongly evaluate your program, your role in it and your youth’s role.

We are an evaluative bunch. We evaluate everything: our work habits, our TV habits, the amount of gasoline we put in our cars and trucks, everything. Our schools give grades to our kids and we grade our schools on how well they perform. When they don’t “make the grade,” we’re ready to change or put an ax to it.

One of the other beauties of Scouting is the fact that unlike paying jobs, one doesn’t have to be “experienced” to serve as a District or Council leader. Most of our Council Presidents have had little or no experience as a volunteer Scouter; yet, they are serving as the senior volunteer for the local Council!

All of the volunteer positions in a local Council as well as within it’s Districts can be held by anyone. Anyone. That’s how new Councils get their leadership... from volunteers that say “I can do that” and do it to the best of their ability &emdash; with training and coaching, with others’ help and with faith that you’re doing the best job you can.

All of the positions in Scouting &emdash; youth, volunteer and professional &emdash; also have a training course or seminar associated with it. The courses are low-cost and are usually held frequently. If you feel that “you’re in the same old rut,” take advantage of the next Commissioners’ Conference or Scouterversity, and attend sessions in something YOU’RE interested in. Don’t know anything about Exploring? Take a session. Want to know about Learning for Life? Go to the session and learn. The same goes for your youth leaders and others associated with your unit. You do NOT have to hold a specific position to take most of the BSA’s volunteer training courses, which makes all of them ideal as refreshers or as “changes of pace” opportunities. And don’t worry &emdash; attendance at most training courses does NOT obligate you to “organizing a new unit” or “training others.”

Further, don’t be too concerned about what other Scouters say about your unit’s program. Sure, listen to their advice if they offer it, but if you don’t think their ideas will work with your unit, don’t do it. Talk it over with the youth of your unit and your fellow unit Scouters.

Nonetheless, there are some serious reasons why your Unit Commissioner comes around your place. The biggest reason is to observe that your unit is not a “junior Klan” organization, nor a front for any kind of illegal activities. The second biggest reason is to assist you in providing for the health and safety of each youth and adult member present by evaluating the meeting place you are meeting at. There are a couple other reasons why your Unit Commissioner visits you: he or she really does CARE about your unit and you. They don’t get paid for visiting your unit. Therefore, they must really care about what your unit is doing or they wouldn’t be there.

Use your Commissioner as a sounding board when things don’t go well, or when you need an outsider’s opinion. Your can also rely on your Commissioner as a “human newsletter.” He or she can inform you of the latest information from the BSA, your Council and the District. You can find out about upcoming events that your unit might want to be a part of, and learn about programs that have changed. Finally, your Commissioner and his or her professional counterparts are great resources. I’ve leaned on my Commissioner to give me copies of forms, to help me fill out paperwork, and just to explain in simple English why I have to do things “the BSA/local Council way” and not the way it makes sense for me to do it.

To get over this fear, invite your Commissioner to your home or workplace on a non-Scout night or afternoon. Find out their background, and tell him or her about yours. This can go very far in getting over the fear that they are just “waiting for you to slip up” so that they can get you replaced!

Another way to get over this fear is to attend a basic training course. The basic training course follows a standardized outline from National, but is tailored to allow local Councils to adapt it to their own neighborhood.

And in many Councils, the training is required as part of your registration with that Council. The idea is to insure that everyone dealing with youth have the same level and content of training concerning youth protection: issues surrounding abuse, neglect and hazing.

Take Care of Yourself
Finally, much of the stress we place on ourselves as Scouters can be confronted by doing things outside of Scouting. Eat dinner with your family... even if that means being late for Opening Ceremonies. Drive a different way to and from work each day. Listen to a different radio station or bring a different tape or CD to work to relax by.

While you are at the unit meeting, try to be involved in what the adults, not the youth, are doing. You have a training role to coach your youth leaders, but don’t let that overshadow their importance as THE leaders, nor overrun your time with your fellow adults.

My wife and I try to set aside one night in which no Scouting goes on, and she does the same with her circle of activities and programs she’s involved with. We plan those evenings around the things we choose to do. This “set-aside night” has worked well for a number of Scouter families who see themselves constantly involved in Scouting activities.

The BSA and many local Councils encourage Scouters to become active in their communities outside of Scouting. Church, school and community-based groups and organizations provide additional outlets for Scouters to share their experiences and successes and failures within. This is a way that much of what has been “building up” can be released by singing, or talking or working with others.

Most importantly, Scouter Stress can be relieved by talking about Scouting and your problems with another Scouter, as many people have already learned by being a part of electronic forums. “Just reading the postings [on SCOUTS-L] from other Scouters,” wrote a Scoutmaster to me, “gives me some real reasons to hope. Compared with what I’ve got to deal with, I’m doing great!! The list has given me a lot of great suggestions and ideas, and I’m printing them out as fast as I can get them done. I walk away from my computer each evening feeling that Scouting and my part in it is a great organization to be a part of. To me, this forum is worth the monthly cost of Internet access and email...”

You don’t need email to get the same kind of benefit. Talk with your Commissioner, or with a fellow Scouter from a different unit. Attend Courts of Honor or Pack Meetings with other units, to see others in action and to be around youth other than your own.

Stop in your Council office and see your Executive if he or she is around or invite him or her to stop by your home or workplace. Spend a lunch each week with someone involved in Scouting. You’ll find that the sharing and “chest releasing” can help with your own Scouting involvement. You’ll also find new friends that share your enthusiam for the programs of Scouting.

You cannot get away from stress. It’s going to be there, whether or not you’re a Scouter. However, you can balance work, play, rest and a wide variety of other activities with what you do within Scouting. Stress can help you do your role as a Scouter better, but it can also do some serious damage to your health, your relationships, and to the program.

Don’t let Scouter Stress control your life... take control of it, and control the stressors in your life and your experiences as a Scouter.