Rejection Therapy

I have cabin fever. I feel like I've spent a lot of time alone the past few days. But when I think about it, that's not actually true...

On Friday, Hayley surprised me by being a spontaneous little devil and buying a bus ticket to Boston. That being said, I spent most of Friday night alone watching TV before she got here. On Saturday she went out for the day while I went to the gym, grabbed myself a juice from the brand new juice bar near my apartment and watched more TV.

We braved the snow and went out to a local bar on Saturday night. On Sunday I went to the new American Fresh Brewhouse in Assembly Square, then saw American Sniper.

Salami pizza

Delicious beer

Found Professor McGonagall at the Lego store

I'm on my way to seeing all of the Oscar nominated movies!

American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

I spent the rest of Sunday napping (twice...what the heck) and watching more TV...alone. I skipped the Grammys and watched a documentary: Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory. It was so good. Equally sad and uplifting.

Today we had another snow day so I've been sitting in my apartment all day trying to do work, but mostly watching TV. My gym closed early so I did what I could of this barre workout in my kitchen. I was dying for some fresh air so I strapped on my snow boots and walked over to the grocery store. There is so much snow. Where is it all going to go!?

Deadly icicle hanging from my window

Neighbors shoveling snow off their roof

I've been listening to NPR's new podcast Invisibilia like it's my job. I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest or affinity in human tendencies/science, or just likes to learn in general. One of the episodes focuses on fear. The first part describes a woman who has no fear (it's a pretty striking case study, and her voice continues to haunt me in my sleep). The second part involves the host's attempt to overcome her phobia of snakes, and explores how a man decided to conquer his fear of rejection. In a gist, the host did not conquer her fear, but the man did. He created a game where he set out to get rejected every single day, on purpose. He even trademarked the game and sells cards on his website. The commands are simple:

Before purchasing something, ask for a discount.

Ask a friend to do your laundry.

Request lunch with a Facebook friend you've never met in person before.

Ask to cut in front of a queue. 

By making rejection something he actively seeks, he feels good, not bad when he gets it. He also learned that it was harder to get rejected than he thought; there aren't as many "nos" out there as expected. "Fear comes from the stories we tell ourselves and those stories become our reality. We don't need those stories."

The episode ends with the secret formula to overcome all fear:

Fear = thinking + time. Take either one of those things away, you cannot get fear.

Just some food for thought as I get ready for another night of TV watching. I miss school.