Hello again Dear Brooke!
I’ve been contemplating my DOD’s. I’ve been trying to choose dares that bring up fear. Fear of rejection and fear of judgment are probably my biggest fears so those are the ones I’ve been targeting. I will choose a dare that I think is really going to make me uncomfortable, but then when I do the dare it repeatedly turns out to be no big deal with little or no anxiety over the actual execution of the dare. I have worn a swimsuit in public all day, without allowing a cover up (I really thought this one was going to be awful, but nope). I’ve set boundaries and communicated them (expected this meeting to be scary but very empowering instead, though I did do some worrying afterward that required work. Yay for that dare!). I’ve touched someone at work that I barely know with ice cold hands (no biggie). I went two days at work with cupcakes sitting outside my door by the coffee pot (not even tempting). I’ve increased my fasting window (no problem). I went a day without diet coke (I expected this to be hard, and I did have one urge but it wasn’t hard to process). I am pretty conservative, so I had a steamier sex dare (again very little fear or anxiety). I asked for a raise at work (was told no. Our budget has been slashed, so I knew it would be a no). I even went so far as to take a nap at work one day when I was feeling sleepy! It wasn’t even on my lunch break. I did it totally during the working hours!! (I slept like a baby, no worry at all. LOL…..too bad I can’t ethically do that one every day!)

It seems that once I make the commitment to do the dare, my emotion switches from anything negative to just being committed. I’ve tried thinking about the dare and how it is supposed to be scary, but once I make up my mind to do it; I can’t seem to produce the negative feelings. So I thought maybe I should switch to things that annoy or frustrate me. I chose to assemble a chaise lounge chair as that sort of thing is hard for me and I expected it to be frustrating, which it was; but I just stayed calm and kept after it. Then I asked my mom to go shopping with me (this one was supposed to be an annoying day extreme, but she declined to go). So, I’m looking at my DOD sheet today, and I just do not know what to dare myself. Nothing seems to be working. What do you think of this?
Wishing you a wonderful day!
Karen