face my deepest fear.

I will not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings
total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and
through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see
its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
THE BENE GESSERIT LITANY AGAINST FEAR, FROM DUNE BYFRANK HERBERT

Here goes: My deepest fear is that no-one would love me if I stopped trying.

That is, deep down I tend to fear that people’s liking and love of me is brought about by my conscious efforts of being charming/kind/sexy/interested/interesting/cheerful/whatever. And that if I stopped making that effort, no-one would care.

I think this may count as a ‘limiting belief’.

Face the fear, not feel scared.

Since setting this goal a couple of years ago, I have accomplished it; I’ve accomplished it several times, in fact, since every conquered fear paves the way to a new conquest. The first year abroad was probably the conquest that inspired everything after; a well-advised parting from my college boyfriend is up there; certain confrontations with family members count; the rest, I think, are too personal to even allude to. But, goal accomplished.