Get fear.less

"Are you ready for your fears to tremble in their boots?" That's a great description from the two-person team who just launched fear.less magazine on May 1. It's the first online magazine dedicated to stories on overcoming fear. We could all use a little help with that.

www.fearlessstories.com

The authors themselves were scared to go forward with this idea. Fear of rejection, fear of failure. But their passion and generosity pushed them to try. Their story in itself is enough to be inspired. Read through their first issue to feel unstoppable, and plan your own fight against fear.

Reunited and it feels so good ♫

It’s official – we are now in business. We finally sent out an introduction of our company to all our friends and family. Most of them had a vague idea what we were doing over here, but now, everyone is well-informed and ready to call on us in a writing emergency.

While we were starting up our business, we heard over and over that we should be spreading the word to everyone we know. We admit, we were shy about it. We didn’t want to be pushy or sales-y. But we learned you don’t have to be.

Our communication of choice was an email newsletter. It slipped into email boxes around the world during the night. It greeted our friends first thing in the morning as they checked email. Their choice to read it or delete it. It was not a forceful introduction – it was a friendly one.

Our intentions were pure. We really just wanted to share our news with all the great people in our lives, to keep the relationships going. My litmus test was, “how would I feel if I received the same kind of email from them?” If it brought a smile quicker than a shrug, that person made the list.

The response has been overwhelming. Such positive thoughts, such supportive words. It’s really a confidence booster. That’s a good enough reason to put yourself out there. We all need compliments and love to keep us going. And these great people in your life are happy to give it.

So if you’re shying away from of the “tell everyone you know” theory, please don’t. Sharing that piece of yourself, something that personal, will have a hugely positive impact on your relationships. It’s scary, but worth it.


~ Of course, a special thank you to all our friends and family for your support and goodness. We could not have done it without you!

Scriptophobia? Not me.

Today’s news sources are reveling in the opportunity to report US representative Hank Johnson’s concern that Guam would eventually “tip over” into the ocean due to over population. He didn’t mean this literally, of course, and he later went on to explain that he was referring to the future of the island’s fragile eco-system rather than the island itself. Regardless, my thought process immediately veered away from the quite likely very important issues surrounding Guam and its growing US military population, to images of an island falling into the ocean.

This thought led me to tsunamis and that thought led me to those of an old friend who had a morbid fear of tsunamis. Now, bearing in mind I knew this person prior to the devastating Indonesian tsunami of 2004, I thought his fear quite ridiculous. He was from Britain, an island, yes, but an island with a risk of tsunamis, no, and he had never encountered one. It was fascinating to me that someone could have a fear, or even a phobia of something they were so unlikely to ever come across. His girlfriend and I made him watch The Day After Tomorrow with us and his panic was almost palpable, which I’m sorry to say we found hilarious - as I mentioned, prior to the Indonesian tsunami.

So thinking about my friend with the fear of tsunamis led me to thinking about other strange phobias. Now this is a topic I am quite enthralled by, not only because the fears themselves are so interesting (genuphobia for instance, is a fear of knees) but because they often gift us with the opportunity to use such meaty and playful words, if you ignore the fact that they all end in ‘phobia,’ of course. Here are some of my favorites:

~Stygiophobia: A fear of Hell, which is a perfectly reasonable fear if you ask me.
~Mnemophobia: A fear of memories, just because it seems so unfortunate.
~Spheksophobia: A fear of wasps, because I completely appreciate this one.
~Linonophobia: A fear of string, which to me is as ridiculous as fearing knees, and finally…
~Sesquipedalophobia or Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, both of which mean a fear of long words.

It’s a good job there isn’t such a thing as a fear of irony.