Susan Jeffers
Feel the fear and do it anyway
Throughout her life Susan Jeffers has constantly re-invented herself. Now with a Ph.D. in Psychology she has helped millions of people throughout the world overcome their fears, heal their relationships, and move forward in life with confidence and love.
As the author of many internationally renowned books I first came across her work whilst reading her best-selling self-help book ‘Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway’. It proposes an approach to life in which there are no wrong decisions, only opportunities to grow, and so takes the fear out of many, often stress-inducing, situations – decision-making, public-speaking, intimacy, being alone, changing jobs, and so on. Instead of viewing life from a position of pain, paralysis and depression, you can begin to experience it from a position of power, energy and love, and so create a life that really matters.
The book combines well-thought through theory with practical applications and is highly recommended to anyone looking for a new way to move ahead with confidence. "Susan Jeffers is attractive, articulate, artfully commanding..." - Los Angeles Times
Here’s how Susan describes herself and her journey...
“I think of myself as someone who seems to be constantly reinventing herself. In my early life, I lived by the then-rules, which means I got married early and had two children. It didn't take long for me to realize that the rules really weren't written for me. I was meant to be doing something in addition to raising a family.
I went back to school when my children were young, much to the shock of my mother and others who felt a woman's place was definitely in the home. I felt this was true only for women who wanted to be there...and not true for those who didn't! So I persevered and attained my BA, Masters Degree, and Doctorate in Psychology.
Fate stepped in upon graduation and offered me the opportunity to become Executive Director of The Floating Hospital, New York's Ship of Health. At the same time, my husband and I decided to end our marriage of 16 years. Thankfully, we are good friends today. I call his present wife, my wife-in-law.
My ten years at The Floating Hospital and my life as a single woman were intensely gratifying and exciting. What an adventure! I certainly learned a lot about feeling the fear and doing it anyway! It was also during those ten years that I began my journey to self-discovery that was to make me a happier and more loving person, and led me into my present career of writing self-help books.
Just when I felt it was time to leave The Floating Hospital and begin my new writing career, I fell in love with the wonderful Englishman to whom I am now married, Mark Shelmerdine, and gained two step-children.
Mark owned London Films and produced such television series as I Claudius, Poldark, The Scarlet Pimpernel and many others. Most importantly, he was loving, kind, giving, and cute...and he dearly loved this woman...even though she only had one breast as a result of a mastectomy. (Truly, women out there, those breasts aren't really that important!) Mark calls me his "titless wonder", which makes me feel very special and tells me I look like a sexy pirate. We are now married over 20 years and it just gets better... and better...and better...and better.
My new career took a while to take hold. It took many, many rejections before my first book, ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’, was finally accepted by a publisher. The worst rejection letter I ever got was that "Lady Di could be bicycling nude down the street giving this book away and nobody would read it."
You would have thought the book would end up in the trash bin at this point. But undaunted, I moved forward and with the help of my genius agent, Dominick Abel, my writing career was finally launched. In 1986, a wonderful editor at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich named Martha Lawrence said YES! The valuable lesson I learned was never give up if you believe in something!
Well, that's it in a nutshell. What is the next step of the Journey? Only time will tell. I'll keep you posted.”
To keep posted on Susan’s life and work visit her website.
[January 2012]
Further resources