Just Jennifer

Some Nerve: Lessons Learned While Becoming Brave by Patty Change Anker (Riverhead, October 2013)

When Patty Chang Anker turned forty, she realized how many things made her fearful; some of these things she could name: water was easy, as was the fear that her two adopted daughters, ten-year-old Gigi and five-year-old Ruby would get hurt, experience disappointment or be unhappy.  Patty, who was raised in a typical Chinese American home, one that stressed education and doing things in a proper manner, decided that in order to help her daughters grow up not fearful she had to face her fears head-on and began to blog about them, learning she was far from the only woman---especially among mothers---with these fears.  Deciding that she would like to be more fearless, Patty embarked on a journey to try new things and conquer her fears.  As she makes her journey, some things don’t go quite right (she breaks foot while boogie boarding) but she makes some happy discoveries (after decluttering her office, she remembers why she fell in love with her house) and she sees changes in her daughters are they too clear out some of the favorite toys they have outgrown, make room for a new piece of furniture in the bedroom and go back into the ocean after being roughly tossed and tumbled about.

Almost everyone will recognize a bit of themselves in Patty, even if it is just being so busy that we have lost sight of the simpler pleasures in life.  Patty is indeed fearless in the telling of the story, seeing herself and her reaction to things with good humor, but also reflecting upon her past to try and learn more about her fears, how she learned to be afraid, enabling her to move forward with a more joyous life.