I've been seeking excitement in my life for some time now. The excitement of walking up to random people to ask for them to vote for my non-profit, jumping off something high for parkour, or talking to a pretty girl on the street.
All those things felt like they had an element of risk but felt extreemly freeing and rewarding.
I wanted to know how to get more of this in my life and I stumbled upon a way to bring it into the more mundane parts of life, and if I can bring it into the mundane, perhaps I can bring it everywhere.
I realized that this can be used in any area where I have the desire to act but feel too afraid and that this could be any type of fear, not just social fear. For example, I've been feeling a lot of anxiety recently with feeling overwhelmed by things. For example, I feel overwhelmed at the thought of taking out the dishes, going to the gym, doing a duolingo test or playing an online chess match against a real person.
Using the formula that I developed with talking to women (but no longer use since I have a girlfriend), here are the steps:
- Imagine that I am going for it, and that I can imagine myself doing so within the next few seconds
- Imagine the fullest extent of "going for it", how would truly committing look like, how would feeling effortless and free look like
- Let the fear/excitement build up in your chest as you start to breathe
- Let the energy carry the action - you don't have to act if it feels wrong, but let the energy flow through your breathing and let it move you
- Continue to breathe through the experience to stay connected to yourself
These steps can bring a feeling of aliveness and control over life. I should know, I used it to write this very post and shoot the video below.