Faced a huge fear!

A lady at work gave me a free ticket to go see the local orchestra & the local ballet school's production of The Nutcracker. I didn't have anyone to go with (as usual), but having broken up with G last weekend, I thought it might be fun to go out by myself.

I didn't know what to wear that would be appropriate, but I decided to get dressed up - FOR MYSELF. It was one of the first times I did it for me and not for the man I was with.

I picked a really pretty dress and coat and shoes, but I panicked about whether they were "appropriate" to the situation and I worried I would look out of place if I were too dressed up, or out of fashion, in case evening styles were much different.

But finally I realised I wanted to do this for me, so that no one else's opinion even mattered anymore - the worry vanished instantly when I wore what I liked.

I almost didn't go, because I knew I would stand out somewhat, being alone. But I turned my negative thoughts into positive, exciting thoughts: I thought instead about how fun the play would be, how nice to see all kinds of different people out, etcetcetc.

I went and had a great time. And I looked lovely. And I was happy, mostly because I faced my fear of social rejection. It was hard, but that's what made the victory even more sweet! 

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Tags: self-esteem, fear, Anxiety