Tag: success

Posted in Life, Uncategorized, Writing

Happy New Year! And a Quick Overview of My Goals and My Fight with Social Anxiety

Posted on by jennrae

Another year will die tonight and the new year will be born. I love New Year’s because I love the ability to start over and renew myself and who I am. I always feel like it is a good time to embrace change and forgive myself for my failings. It is a good time; a new time. And, I usually embrace it.

I feel pretty happy with life in general right now. Sometimes I feel perhaps a bit too isolated due to my constant fight with social anxiety and the ability to enjoy life and working way too  much. It is funny but I love one on one interactions, it is the larger groups of people that make me nervous. I know that the crowd won’t hurt me, but the anxiety can be so intense that I have the desire to flee running from the building, and I have. I have actually ran out of more than one building. If I stay, I must really really care. A lot. Because it is sheer terror, so, if I stay for you, yeah, it is something monumental. It means a lot, I don’t do that for many people.

I have been forcing myself to be braver and take more risks and force myself to sit in crowds in church, and other places. It is a struggle, like always, but dealing with irrational phobias usually is because they are irrational by nature.

Sometimes writing in a coffee shop can be energizing because of the conversations swirling around me but then I am separate from the crowd. I am safely ensconced by my computer while they engage in human interaction as I silently observe and take mental notes for future dialogue possibilities or character traits.

Somehow I can stay, maybe the laptop is  magical. Or maybe it is my shield from the world encroaching on me, suffocating me. I am going to attempt to attend a New Year’s party, wish me luck, and partly I am doing this to attempt to end the phobia by exposure to the cause of the fear. Maybe it has helped, but the anxious feeling seems to always be there, it never goes away completely. Maybe it never will.

My motto for this year and my goals are simple. Write more, at least something daily, stay in shape, and strive to be a better human by conquering my fears and experiencing success. I also hope to find love, preferably amazing true love, but you know, maybe I am asking for a bit too much for one year. To all that pass this way, good fortune, and may your dreams come true and much success for you and your loved ones!

*hugs* from JennRae

Posted in Life

Good Times

Posted on by jennrae

So I have been blessed to have a week of paid time off, and alot of time to think about things and read bad advice online about love and life. Now, it is kinda mean to say it is bad advice. But the thing about any advice, is that it is bad if it isn’t tailored to the needs of the person on the receiving end. So, when you read stuff online you get contradictory answers and a lot of people wanting  you (Well, me in this case.) to shell out 40 plus bucks to learn their secrets. Secrets like how to be happy, and how to be successful, how to make a bunch of money, how to win and keep the love of your life, to do everything and anything from becoming closer to God, to finding out what you really want (okay, an ebook will tell you how to do that?? Is the author privy to your inner workings and thoughts, experiences? Didn’t think so. )

So that’s what I mean by bad advice, not that it will kill you, or that it means harm, but, it doesn’t really help you because while well meaning, it can’t be fully applied to your problem/situation. Except in a general sense. And, I have found alot of the “advice” are from writers like me, who are just putting out their opinions/thoughts on the subject and aren’t really anymore qualified and aren’t anymore informed than anyone else. I have found the way to learning for me, is the hard way. In other words, by making mistakes and stumbling around, and then learning okay, I won’t do THAT again.  You can’t read or research actual experience. You have to get out there and let it happen. So, that is what I think I will do. I will DO. Actions speak louder than words, and actions lead to results. Not thinking, not talking, not reading. Doing. Good old fashioned doing.

So…want to read my opinion on how to be happy? Lead a fulfilling life, filled with interesting people. Be interesting. If you find yourself boring, so will others. Do something you enjoy. Don’t talk about someday, what if, maybe, if the stars align at this moment in this year, as Nike says, JUST DO IT! Be happy. I read somewhere that happiness is a choice. ( I know, I read somewhere, didn’t I just say to not read….wait..are you reading this???) I am starting to believe, no, I am starting to know, this is the case.

You can choose to see what you don’t have, what you don’t like, people you don’t like. Or, you can choose to see what you do have, what you do enjoy, surround yourself with people you do like.  Life doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes I think the internet has overcomplicated things by allowing introverts like myself to remain introverted. It is hard to get out there, and I am still struggling with it, and the internet makes it so easy to sit back and let things pass you by. You can refresh facebook and read interesting links, or you can get out there and do things, that make it so you have something interesting TO link. Which would you rather do?