Some Nerve: Lessons Learned While Becoming Brave

One woman's quest to conquer her fears and embrace life--and to inspire others to do the same Patty Chang Anker grew up eager to please and afraid to fail. But after thirty-nine years, she decided it was time to stop being a chicken. Motivated initially to become a better role model for her two young daughters, she vowed to face the fears that had taken root like weeds, choking the fun and spontaneity out of life. She learned to dive into a swimming pool, ride a bike, do a handstand, and surf. As she shared her experiences, she discovered that most people suffer from their own secret terrors--of driving, flying, heights, public speaking, and more. It became her mission to help others do what they thought they couldn't, and to feel for themselves the powerful sense of being alive that is the true reward of becoming brave. Inspired and inspiring, Some Nerve draws on Anker's interviews with teachers, therapists, coaches, and clergy to impart both practical advice and profound wisdom. Through her own journey and the stories of dozens of others who have triumphed over common fears, she conveys with humor and infectious exhilaration the most vital lesson of all: Fear isn't an end point, but the point of entry to a life of incomparable joy. FEARS INCLUDE: Aging, Becoming Boring, Biking, Breaking bones, Bullies, Chaos, Clutter, Cold, Control (loss of), Crime, Death, Driving, Exercise, Failure, Flying, Heights, Letting go, Looking dumb, Math, Nature (esp. sharks), P.E., Pleasure, Public Speaking, Public toilets, Rejection, Roller coasters, Success, Surfing, Tubing, Unemployment, Unknown, Water, Writing. And Wedgies.

About the Author :
Patty Chang Anker is the author of Some Nerve: Lessons Learned While Becoming Brave, a memoir about facing her fears and helping others to do the same. She is the blogger behind Facing Forty Upside Down, for which she was named a Good Housekeeping Blogger We Love and a Top 25 Funny Mom at Circle of Moms. She writes the Some Nerve blog at PsychologyToday.com and her work has also appeared in magazines and websites from Marie Claire to iVillage. When she's not facing her fears she can be found teaching yoga, publicizing other people's work, or chasing her daughters across Westchester County. Patty Chang Anker is the author of Some Nerve: Lessons Learned While Becoming Brave, a memoir about facing her fears and helping others to do the same. She is the blogger behind Facing Forty Upside Down, for which she was named a Good Housekeeping Blogger We Love and a Top 25 Funny Mom at Circle of Moms. She writes the Some Nerve blog at PsychologyToday.com and her work has also appeared in magazines and websites from Marie Claire to iVillage. When she's not facing her fears she can be found teaching yoga, publicizing other people's work, or chasing her daughters across Westchester County. Coming soon...

Review :

"[A] humorous account of how [Anker] transcended her 'nervous nature...bookish upbringing and midlife responsibilities' to discover her courage...inspiring."

"Not everyone experiences the fear of flying, or water, or sharks, or the dark, but everyone understands what it is like to be afraid. Happily, everyone can give themselves the joyous gift of Patty Chang Anker's insightful, funny, and brave book."

"This warm memoir is not a traditional self-help book, yet the joy that Anker and her peers feel when they allow themselves to be beginners--even after the age of forty--will be motivation enough for can't-do readers to take steps toward making their lives a little bigger and better."

"With humor, humility, and (most of all) self-compassion, Anker tells a compelling story of everyday courage--one that is sure to touch and help countless other people like her, like me, like all of us who have made worry into an art form. She proves that it's not too late, that we can truly change ourselves and enlarge our worlds as a result."