review
Don’t Dare, Do Anyway (Feel the Fear and do it Anyway) is a book by the American writer Susan Jeffers. The book can be placed in the category self-help books. People who suffer from anxiety (s) and / or depression can greatly benefit from this book. In a pleasant way, Susan Jeffers explains how you can manage to turn fear, indecision and anger into strength, action and love. The book is a must for everyone, but certainly for those who are stuck in their lives. This book is a good resource for finding your way up.
The message of ‘Don’t dare, do it anyway’: from pain, paralysis and depression to strength, energy and love
The book ‘Feel the Fear and do it anyway’ (Dutch title: Don’t dare, do anyway) is one of the best books Susan Jeffers has written. It became an international bestseller that can teach you how to live the life you want to live or in Jeffers’s words: how to move from a life with pain, paralysis and depression to a life with strength, energy and love. The book is rather American-style, but still reads well. It doesn’t psychologize too much but is much more of a textbook.
Exposure or exposure as a means of anxiety and depression
The message that recurs throughout the book is that of exposure or exposure. Everything we fear or have become depressed about can be overcome by going out in life and doing what we dare not. That sounds fairly simple but takes a lot of courage and perseverance. This book helps the reader step by step and with clear examples and stories how everyone can overcome their fears and lead a satisfied life.
The five insights into fear
In the book five insights or truths are treated and explained:
- The fear will never go away as long as I keep developing myself.
- The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to get out there and do it.
- The only way to feel better about yourself is to get out there and … do it.
- Not only will I feel fear when I get out of my comfort zone, everyone will.
- Breaking through the fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that arises from a feeling of helplessness.
Jeffers explains in a humorous and appealing way what these truths or insights mean and how you can deal with them. It is reassuring once you know that you are not the only one having problems with certain experiences and that you can get rid of them. That’s what Susan Jeffers makes clear with these insights.
Dealing with the negative voice in your head
Anyone who is bothered by anxiety or depression knows it: the little voice in your head that chirps on and keeps repeating all those annoying negative thoughts. Jeffers calls it ‘the chatterbox’. It is the voice in your head that tries to drive you crazy and often succeeds. This little voice is the key to all your fears. The little voice predicts disaster, loss and misery. Jeffers humorously describes what that little voice can sound like:
‘If I call him he’ll think I’m too pushy but if I don’t call him he’ll think I’m not interested in him. But if I call him and his answering machine is on, I’ll wonder where he is and my whole evening will be ruined because then I think he’s out with another woman. But if I don’t call, I will also wonder. Maybe I shouldn’t go out tonight. He should just call me. If I don’t answer, he’ll think I’m out with someone else, etc. ‘
The message is that you can overcome your fears by simply saying to yourself and repeating that you have it can handle. ‘I can trade it’ are the most important words in this book by Jeffers. They are the key to a better life.
classes
- This book teaches the reader how, by means of a 10-step plan, he can learn to initiate a more positive thinking process that drowns out the negative voice.
- It teaches you how to get out of your comfort zone a bit every day so that it gets bigger.
- Visualization techniques allow you to achieve goals and free yourself from destructive fear.
- The power dictionary is an important resource that can change the way you think.
- Any decision you make is right. You cannot make wrong decisions.
- The book teaches you how to develop an optimistic outlook on life despite crises.
Sound files
These lessons are supported by means of sound files that are for sale via the internet and by means of notes with positive quotes, so-called ‘affirmations’. The reader can also do this very well by making cards with positive sentences or positive messages on his smartphone.
Susan Jeffers
Susan Jeffers is now a phenomenon. Besides the book ‘Feel the Fear and do it anyway’ she wrote a number of other books including ‘The Feel the Fear Guide to Lasting Love’ and ‘Feel the Fear … and beyond’. There is also a Susan Jeffers website: Susan Jeffers. Susan Jeffers (maiden name Susan Gildenberg) was born March 3, 1938 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. She initially attended Penn State University but dropped out when she got married. In the early 1960s, the family moved to Manhattan where Jeffers earned several degrees and then pursued her doctoral studies in psychology at Hunter College and Columbia University.
Jeffers draws on her own life
In 1971, Jeffers became a director at the Floating Hospital in New York. Her experiences there have been incorporated in the book ‘Feel the Fear and do it Anyway’. Jeffers has also known her difficulties as the reader becomes clear when he reads the book. Jeffers also draws many examples from her experience with the Floating Hospital and from the seminars she has started to teach about how to overcome anxiety. Feel the Fear and do It anyway was Jeffers’ first and most famous book. It appeared in 1987 and has been translated into many languages. Even today it is still possible to follow ‘Feel the Fear workshops’ in various countries, although Jeffers died of cancer on October 27, 2012 in Los Angeles.