“No” is such a negative and limiting word. Therefore, this week I challenged myself to say “Yes” during my quest for for a fearless life.
October 31: Tried to meet new people on halloween. It is hard to meet new people when you are in new in town. How could you when the only time anyone is outside is when they are going to or from work? I’ve always wanted to ring the door bells of neighbors to say hi or just walk around the neighborhood to meet new people. However, I was always afraid my efforts of being neighborly wouldn’t be well-received. So I decided to get over that fear on Halloween. It turns out there aren’t many people who trick-or-treat in my area. Therefore, meeting people wasn’t that easy. But at least no one thought I was weird. Fear Averted.
November 1: Said yes to dress shopping. I know buying dresses doesn’t sound like such a scary feat. But when you are 4’11, have an inability find any dress that doesn’t fit too long and have a limited budget, you’ll soon see why shopping for a dress is a crazy thing. As usual, I was afraid that I was going to be let down by the lack of options available for me and have to accept that I just don’t have the body for dresses. I haven’t been dress shopping in years because of it. However, after hours of searching I managed to find TWO dresses that looked good on me. Plus, they were a really good price. Fear Averted.
November 2: Attended a halloween party. I’m not a party person. I’m always afraid I would never fit in because I am the total opposite of being the life of the party. As a result, I usually say no when invited to parties. When my old college buddy invited me to one, I was tempted to say no. However, I broke my habit and decided to conquer the fear of attending. Not only did I go to the party, but I also dressed up as a jock. And I actually had a good time. Fear Averted.
November 3: Went to field hockey tailgate. Instead of skipping out on the tailgate in the fear of overstepping boundaries and not fitting in I attended in support of my husband. I’m glad I went because I had the opportunity to mingle with new people and learn that the girls on the team are extremely welcoming. Fear Averted.
November 4: Wore sports bra to pole class. I’m really self-consciousness about my stomach. It just doesn’t look the same as it used to. Hence the reason why I was afraid to wear a sports bra to class. I foresaw a bunch of stares and unpleasant looks from the women in my class who saw me in my sports bra. However, I decided to go against the grain and wear it anyway. I actually felt really empowered. To my knowledge, I didn’t get any stares from the women. Fear Averted.
November 5: Agreed to work for a family member. A family member of mine is in the infancy stages of starting a business. He asked for me help and offered to pay me. I was afraid to mix money with family. Plus, I felt bad taking money from someone who has done so much for me so I instead offered to do it for free. After much insistence, I finally gave in and said yes to working for the member.
November 6: Asked someone to read my personal essay. I wrote a personal essay even more revealing than the first one. I wrote a few months ago. Of course, I was afraid of the criticism but I decided to pass the essay along to someone I grew up with for a critique. I’m still afraid of what she might say, but I’m crossing my fingers for a good outcome.
Scariest thing this week? Wearing a sports bra to my pole dancing class.
