Why am I reviewing Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway on my flexitarian lifestyle blog? Because, it applies to making changes in our lives, and for many of us, eating healthy and a regular exercise routine requires a lot of effort. Any little bit of help along the way is welcome.
I read plenty of books that help me re-frame how I think of things and give me a boost forward to help me meet my goals.
Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway is a classic, it’s been around since 1987. The tag line on the cover is “Dynamic techniques for turning fear, indecision, and anger into power, action and love.”
The following idea from the book spoke volumes to me about myself and also made me think a lot about friends and family around me. It’s the concept of living your life focusing too much on one thing, while missing out on other life-giving areas.
Dr. Jeffers example focused mostly on relationships and people who put all of their focus and energy into one person, their partner. What happens when that relationship ends? Person ‘A’ is left feeling empty and alone. How do they fill that void? They may see the only fix is to fill that void by finding the next all encompassing partner. And the pattern goes on.
I’ll admit, that’s not where my void is, but I’m far from balanced. LOL
Dr. Jeffers created a whole-life grid. Three rows and columns of boxes, creating a total of nine squares of equal size in a grid. She listed recommendations to write in each box:
Contribution Hobby Leisure
Family Alone Time Personal Growth
Work Relationship Friends
My grid looked like this:
Jot down what you envision for each of these areas of your life. When you are participating in each area, be 100% present. When you’re with friends, don’t be thinking about work. When you’re with your partner, don’t be thinking about your hobbies. And when you’re doing any of the eight other things, don’t be wishing you were with your partner. Give each area 100% of yourself, the time and attention that they each need.
The point is, if we live our life focused on only one box, and that box disappears, we feel lost as we grapple to get that box re-filled. We need a well rounded life to be whole. If we strive to fulfill ourselves in nine different areas equally, if one of those areas ends, we are still held together in eight other areas.
I’ve been working on my visions for my nine areas of life to create a more balanced existence.
I’d encourage you to do a little analyzing of your life and consider if it’s balanced.
There is so much to learn in this book, I would highly recommend picking up a copy, or dusting off the one on your bookshelf and give it a read, with pen and paper near by.
A Flexitarian Journey 