Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

Susan Jeffers is the author of one of my favorite books “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway”. It was initially recommended to me by a friend who raved about it and I bought it shortly afterwards. However, it took me awhile to sit down and read it.


This book is firstly about finding your fear or fears and uncovering what is behind them, which the author suggests is a fear of being able to handle a situation. In the author’s words “At the bottom of every one of your fears is simply the fear that you can’t handle whatever life may bring you.” For example, a fear of aging translates into “I can’t handle getting old.”

This is not as simple or silly as it sounds on first reading. In fact the fear of aging if you think about it can include not being able to handle being dependent or being alone or being financially worse off than before or being ill. It can include the fear of losing your looks, gaining wrinkles and being rejected as “too old”.

I like this book because it doesn’t promise to give you miracle cures. Jeffers acknowledges it takes some work to travel beyond the fear or learn to deal with it. She gives plenty of examples along the way and suggests exercises to help the reader understand and change the way you feel. I also like this book because it’s basically about taking responsibility for your actions and not playing the blame game. It’s easy to read, easy to use and good to have on hand.

This morning I walked by my book shelf and the book almost jumped out at me. I realised I’m facing some fears at the moment that I need to deal with. I would like to pursue a career in writing, but I’m scared I won’t have the security or income that my full time job gives me. I am fearful about being alone in old age. I am fearful that I will never have enough money saved for those “just in case” moments that always appear in later life.

So, I’m off to re read “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway”, I suggest if you have any fears of your own, that you join me!