"Hey HEY HEEYYY!....Now sing louder than that." This is Davey's answer when I told him I've been too scared to sing loudly around the house. I hear my roommates blasting music and singing in the shower but when it's my turn, I get all shy and keep the volume low. I know they don't mind (in fact they'd actually enjoy hearing my music...just how I enjoy theirs) and yet I'm frozen with fear of being heard, of disturbing people, of making a fool of myself. I've been dealing with this singing-fear shit for years and everyone I talk to TALKS to me. And that's the problem. We're talking it to death and making very little progress. Davey is a man of action and that's why I keep him around ;) When I come to him with problems, he sometimes interrupts me mid-sentence and starts taking action. Like in this situation, I told him I was feeling angry at myself for being so pathetic and quiet around the house when all I want to do is sing loud and free. Immediately, he starts singing, quietly at first, challenging me to sing louder than him. He repeats his little song over and over, raising the volume until we're both yelling in the living room and our roommate yells back from downstairs "HEEEEEEYyyyyy!". When we first started dating, I felt frustrated when he would interrupt me. I wanted to 'talk it through' and figure out the solution. Now I understand that almost always, the solution to my problem is to stop talking and starting acting. This is much more challenging but much more effective. When talking, I'm standing inside my comfort zone, looking out with metaphorical binoculars towards the scary magical land outisde my comfort zone, trying to understand how to get there. But you know how to get there? Put down the binoculars and start walking. // Cha

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