Fear, Continued

I think I'm going to make a series of posts based on "The Fear Book: Facing Fear Once and For All" by Cheri Huber. I know it sounds like a silly self-help book that is probably saturated in unhelpful generalizations and a desire for a "perfect" life where you get to make lots of money and date attractive people, but it's not. I've read it before, and I love it. However, last time I read it, I zipped through it and didn't do any of the "assignments" it suggested. I'm going to do them this time and record them in this blog. I'll also share some of my favorite quotes. Lucky you!

This is on page one and two, in a sloppy 16pt font (used throughout the book), and I think it gives a good representation of what the book aims to do:

" In the process presented here for dealing with fear, fear is the hunted, not the hunter. Fear is the quarry you must stalk and confront and unmask, to reveal to yourself that all that separates you from yourself is an illusion...
Fear is not who you are underneath your facade. Fear is not the real you that you must somehow fix or improve or overcome.
Fear is a very useful signal along the path to freedom. The stronger the fear, the closer you are to what you are seeking. If you want to stay "safe" (i.e. stuck where you are), fear tells you to stop what you are doing. But if you want to be free, fear lets you know you are on the right track, it is a signal to push ahead in the same direction, to pick up the pace."

To me, those words are very inspiring. I think a lot of people internalize their fear and begin to identify with it, rather than who they really are. This makes any battle against your fear extremely painful because it becomes a battle against yourself. In me, this can lead to feeling very depressed and hateful towards myself, which is probably not healthy.

.....
On page 8, the author requests that I make a list of all of the things I used to enjoy, but no longer do because they are too scary. This might be similar to my previous list in a lot ways, but, nevertheless, I think it will be helpful
The list:
Chatting with people I don't know
Swimming
Dancing
Chatting with men
Chatting with men I am attracted to
Having serious discussions with people I do not seriously trust
Having discussions with more than one or two people at a time
Voicing opinions and ideas
Trying new things (to some extent)
Doing things by myself
Going to parties
There are also situations that I haven't tried, but have similar qualities to the above situations, and so I am too afraid to try them, such as:

Travel
Going to meetings and classes and workshops

Actually, that's all I can think of right now. I'm sure there's more, but I'm also sure they'll come up later anyway.

Until next time,
Aubrey