Okay Fine Whatever

The story of one chronically anxious woman's hilarious year-long quest to change her own timid nature by seeking out the kinds of experiences she's spent her life avoiding.

During the nine years Courtenay Hameister hosted NPR's Live Wire, she lived in a state of near-constant dread and anxiety, and she didn't just fret about and fear her next radio show; she fretted about and feared everything.

Until about a year ago, when she decided to take arms against a sea of anxieties and by opposing... maybe not end them, but at least become a little more adventurous, spontaneous, and comfortable in her own skin. OKAY FINE WHATEVER tells the story of Courtenay's year-long fight against her own nature, which took the form of pushing herself to try new things, things that scared her or made her uncomfortable, things that the average person might consider doing for a half-a-second before deciding: "nope."

Things like: attending a fellatio class. She did that. She also spent an afternoon in a flotation tank, visited a sex club, went on 28 first dates, and got hypnotized. She had a session with a professional cuddler. She got high (legally) in the middle of a workday. And she came away with a lot of amusing and occasionally poignant stories about her adventures on the front lines of Mere Human Woman v. Fear.

Refreshing, relatable, and very funny, OKAY FINE WHATEVER reminds us that "the tiniest amount of bravery is still bravery," and that it's possible to fight complacency and grow bolder a little at a time.