A book featuring 琉璃神社 writers has launched in time to celebrate International Women鈥檚 Day.
鈥楩ear Less鈥� is an anthology, compiled by 19 women from the U.S. and Canada sharing stories about their greatest fears, how they overcame them and how they have become more resilient as a result of their hardships.
Sharon Hughes-Geekie is a local businesswoman and she said the goal of the book is to show that everyone is affected by fear one way or another.
鈥淭his book addresses all sorts of fears, from eating disorders to self-doubt, imposter syndrome to fear of abandonment,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e all have fears and a lot of it is self-doubt in disguise and we struggle with how to overcome those fears in order to live our optimal life.鈥�
She added that the stories are to help others, especially women, to overcome or at least be able to live with their fears and to celebrate their victories.
Co-author Andrea Kelly said it鈥檚 important to overcome as many of our fears as possible to live the best life we can so that nothing is holding us back. However, she also said it鈥檚 also important to understand that there will always be new fears and new trials throughout our lives.
Kristy Keus echoed the sentiment, adding that fear can hold us back from being the best person we can be not just for ourselves, but for our loved ones too.
Kristen Thompson said as women, there are a lot of things that we talk about with each other, but there is also a lot of unsaid things, including what鈥檚 difficult or what we鈥檙e afraid of.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important to create a sense of sisterhood, especially in these times鈥� we have these nagging fears that many of us didn鈥檛 know we had or didn鈥檛 talk to each other about,鈥� she said.
鈥淪o (this book) creates this sense of not being alone and reminding women we鈥檙e alike in many ways.鈥�
For her part, lead author Christine Esovoloff said she hopes when men and women alike read the book, that they gain perspective on the things that are holding them back or that they need to work on.
鈥淔or me, writing my chapter in the book highlighted some areas in my life that I wasn鈥檛 even aware that fear was really holding me back,鈥� she said.
鈥淪o I hope people gain some awareness and maybe gain a step or two on how they might be able to overcome it.鈥�
The book is now available at Barnes & Noble in the U.S. and Chapters in Canada. If you wish to order online, you can do so .
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