Day 56: Hit

What's the challenge?

To get into a fast-pitch baseball batting cage.

What are you afraid of?

Getting hit by a pitch.

How was the experience?

I always, ok not always, I sometimes go with my husband to the batting cage so he can practice his swing. I normally stay outside of the cage sitting and waiting for him to be over. This time, I decided to join him and try to "hit some balls." I thought to myself: how bad could this be? Well, it was pretty scary! The balls were thrown at me extremely fast and the vibration on the bat when I made contact was really hurting my hands! I guess I'm gonna have to practice a lot more, but at least we had so much fun and I now get to enjoy different activities with my hubby :)

Day 55: Roll

What's the challenge?

To go on roller coaster for the first time.

What are you afraid of?

The horrible feeling in your stomach.

How was the experience?

I would have never, ever in my life agreed to ride on a roller coaster; not for $1,000, not for a lifetime supply of Levain cookies. But, for this project, I knew I had to do it. Took me forever to make the decision to go, and once there, it took me around 45+ minutes to actually get in the line. Thankfully, I had my Thync device with me to help me calm down before the ride. To some degree, it worked pretty well; I was still nervous but definitely more calmed than when I arrived to the park. The feeling of going up the roller coaster on a 90 degree angle was already crazy for my standards, but being upside down more than I don't know how many times was out of control! There was nothing I could do or say to make it stop, so I tried to enjoy the ride. My friend Almu told me to scream as loud as I possibly could to help the air in my lungs go out and that was a great piece of advice, so thank you Almu! Other than that, it's not like I'll run to the next roller coaster I see, but I might give it another chance!
PS: Please watch the video again and focus on the guy to my left. His face will make your day :)

Day 54: Walk

What's the challenge?

To walk around NY in high heels all day long.

What are you afraid of?

Falling down!

How was the experience?

I barely own high heels, I try to avoid them as much as possible, mostly since I moved to NY. They are super dangerous and most of them hurt my feet. So for this challenge I got the highest heels I could find (and prettiest, from Alepel) and somehow managed to stay on them for the whole day!
• PROS: for once I was awesomely tall and I could reach the top bar at the subway! I also felt pretty empowered by my height and the look of the shoes.
• CONS: I looked ridiculous walking on the street with such high heels in this city where normal people wear their sneakers to walk and carry their heels in their purse to work. Also, I was walking extremely slow and missed all of the street lights to cross!!
I think I'll go back to my white Converse for now :)

Day 53: Chew

What's the challenge?

To eat insects.

What are you afraid of?

Getting sick.

How was the experience?

Many friends suggested that I should eat some type of insect for this challenge since they know I'm a very picky eater. I thought they were all out of their minds and that it was not going to happen. This weekend I went to Savannah and for my surprise, they were selling packaged crickets at the famous candy store. The ingredients literally read: crickets, salt and vinegar. I asked my husband to join me in my romantic dinner and after being extremely hesitant, he agreed! I was in complete denial at first about eating the cricket, who was looking at me like: please don't eat me. But then, I just went for it. I swear it wasn't as bad as I thought. Feels good to be open to try new things, whatever those things are! The after taste can only leave you feeling proud of yourself.

Day 52: Spider

What's the challenge?

To hold a tarantula.

How was the experience?

I went to Savannah, GA for my brother's graduation; to my surprise, his BFF had a tarantula as pet. This was a challenge I was trying to avoid for the longest time, and since I did not know anybody who had a tarantula or where I could find it, I thought it was not going to happen and I wasn't precisely sad about it. But, I couldn't say no to my brother's friend and I accepted the challenge. My heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to jump off my chest, but the instant the spider started walking on top of my arm I actually enjoyed it. I know my face is not exactly full of joy, but very deep inside I was thinking: hmmmm... this is not at all as bad as I imagined. One more time the fear was way bigger than the actual thing. Honey Pepper–the tarantula–was pretty cool and elegant. I might get one, who knows!

Day 51: Sing

What's the challenge?

To sing karaoke with a live band.

What are you afraid of?

Embarrassment. 

How was the experience?

We found this authentic place to sing karaoke where the band is the one from SNL, called Arlene's Grocery. The thing is that they only offer rock songs and that's definitely not my genre. I finally found the one song I knew but had to practice, "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele. I knew I was taking on a huge challenge but if I was going to go on stage and make a fool out of myself, I had to do it the right way. After tormenting my neighbors a couple of nights a week I decided to go and just face that fear. I have to tell you that I was ashamed to go on stage but posting this has been even harder! The good part is that I enjoyed singing like a rock star so much that I want to make it a weekly plan till I get better at this!

Day 50: Help

What's the challenge?

To help people in need with whatever they ask.

What are you afraid of?

Approaching other people to offer my help without knowing how they will react.

How was the experience?

It took me some time to find the best way to approach this, mostly because I wanted to record the situation without making them uncomfortable with the camera. So, I discovered that by just filming myself there wouldn't be any problem. The first attempt was the hardest. I'm bad at talking to strangers and I didn't know how to start the conversation, but when I finally asked this person in what way I could help him, he responded: "Help my friend over there" pointing at a woman across the street who was also asking for money. That truly surprised me and encouraged me to keep going. So I went to his friend and offered my help. It took me a couple of days to finish this challenge since I wanted to reach more people. I'm so glad I did this as it gave me the confidence to approach people in need, whether is someone that's having a bad day or someone asking for help. This project made me more sensible to others' needs and this challenge is something that I want to keep doing for the rest of my life. I just learned that with very little money, and very little time, we are able to make someone else's day so much better.

Day 49: Shake it

What's the challenge?

To dance like no one's watching in a public place.

What are you afraid of?

People thinking I'm completely insane.

How was the experience?

Let me tell you that this was one of the best experiences I've had in my life. I honestly never felt so good, comfortable and confident. You must do this at least once in your lifetime! Sounds super silly and you're thinking "no freaking way," but I swear it is sooo worth it.
PS: Put your headphones on! Once you take them off you'll feel pretty awkward dancing by yourself without music. I tried it both ways, makes a huge difference. I love dancing more than anything but I never do it, except when I'm in front of my mirror. From now on you'll find me dancing everywhere ;) Beware! 

Special thanks to Chris Brinlee Jr, my SCADDY friend and amazing photographer/storyteller who not only helped me capture this challenge but danced like a rockstar half of the song!

Day 48: Take in

What's the challenge?

To read negative comments about my 100 Day Project on Facebook.

What are you afraid of?

Disapproval.

How was the experience?

Ever since the project went viral, I've been receiving many wonderful messages giving me support and inspiration. At the same time, I've been getting lots of negative comments about my fears not being legit. I have a hard time facing disapproval, I normally do things to make others feel comfortable avoiding any kind of confrontation. I like recognition more than anything, so reading all the bad comments wasn't easy but I learned not to take myself too seriously doing this project and that truly helped.

Day 47: Spice it up

What's the challenge?

To eat something very spicy for the first time.

What are you afraid of?

Dying, if that's even possible, or lots of pain.

How was the experience?

I've been told by Mexican friend that nothing is spicy enough in this country and that I shouldn't be fooled when people put the word "spicy" before any dish on the menu. Taking that into account, I went to Trader Joe's and bough the spiciest jalapeño peppers I could find. Luckily for me, there was an empanada stand right outside @NuchasNYC. I ordered the two "spicy" empanadas they had, tried them out and agreed with my Mexican friend, from 1 to 10, they were a 3. In that case, I added some of their spicy sauce that took it to a 5 and on top of that I added a chunk of my jalapeño. I literally thought I could die from that or burn non-stop for the whole day. After a few attempts, I bit into it and started to feel the burn, first in my mouth then in my throat as I started to swallow the empanada. There was pain, some tears, almost vomit, but the milk made it all better immediately. I'm now ready to go to Mexico!

Day 46: Freeze

What's the challenge?

To hold a snake.

What are you afraid of?

The snake.

How was the experience?

I've received lots of emails from people suggestion that 1) I should get a tattoo, and 2) I should hold a snake. Since my religion doesn't allow tattoos (and I can't commit to one word/drawing for the next 100 years), I went with the latter. The snake thing is something I thought I was not going to be able to do, and judging by the video, I wasn't doing much really. I was completely petrified, mostly because of the fact that I didn't plan it. I was walking happily around NY when I see the guy with the snake and I understood I had to face my challenge. It all happened so quickly that I had no time to think about it, the guy put the snake in my shoulders while I was telling him to wait, he obviously didn't listen. So I did it, I stood there petrified with the animal over my neck and... Ta-da! Nothing bad happened! I survived the snake challenge!  

Day 45: Rise

What's the challenge?

To watch the sunrise by myself from the Brooklyn Bridge.

What are you afraid of?

Ever since a friend of mine from college was sexually abused while she was going back home from the library at 5am, I completely ruled out the idea of being outside alone at that time of the day.

How was the experience?

I went to sleep yesterday at 2am and woke up today at 4:15am to hop in the subway and go all the way from Midtown to the Brooklyn Bridge. I've been delaying this experience for the longest time since I was truly terrified of being by myself outside before sunrise, mostly afraid of being on the subway at that time. Today I decided to go for it and even though the subway was sketchy and scary, the bridge was beautiful and peaceful. This has been one of my favorite experiences so far. 

Day 44: Spend

What's the challenge?

To limit my budget to $5 for a day.

What are you afraid of?

I'm afraid of not being able to buy whatever I want (not like I buy everything I want, but as far as food I pretty much do).

How was the experience?

This challenge and New York living is making me go broke, plus, tuition! On top of that I have a hard time limiting my budget when it comes to shopping and food, I pretty much spend all my lunch hours at the mall in Columbus Circle "browsing" around. Today, I tried sticking to my $5 limit (I had no other choice since I left my wallet at home). I was amazed of how you can actually survive with $5 without starving. If you want to eat healthy this may not be your best option, but if you don't really care, go for it! I ate one boiled egg, 3 bananas, 1 slice of pizza, fries and a burger, I can't complain and my wallet either!

Day 43: Go viral

How was the experience?

Today I woke up with an email from DailyMail asking me for my permission to use my images and videos on their website. A few minutes later, I receive an email from A Plus asking me to answer some questions about fear to write an article about my project as well. Shortly after that (I was still not understanding the magnitude of the situation), I log into my Squarespace account and notice that the website has more than 300 views by 10am. That moment I started to freak out and grasp where this was going. I clicked on the referrers button and find out that tons of articles have been written about me in many languages. Then, I go back to Facebook and I see my face on posts by blogs I love and follow (Designtaxi, Boredpanda, Bustle). Of course I shared them all immediately and my friends and family start sharing them as well. By that point I couldn't concentrate on work anymore, this was getting addictive. Soon, I start to receive emails from people all over the world telling me how much I've inspired them and that they were going to start their own list of fears. I was so overwhelmed I couldn't even do my fear of the day. A few hours after, my page had around 6,000 views, I know!!!

The day after, the unimaginable happened, Ashton Kutcher posted my article on his Facebook account and it got almost 30,000 likes and 7,000 shares. I couldn't believe my eyes. At the same time, I started to read some of the comments and as you can imagine, they were not all positive, but, as Taylor Swift says, haters gonna hate, and I couldn't focus on those at that time. That day I got 27,000+ visitors on my page. The next day I got featured on Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, and Hello Giggles by Zooey Deschanel. And finally, by Sofia Vergara. 

(Sorry for the longest post ever but here comes the scary part) So, yes, as you can imagine, I'm freaking out. I am 100% excited but for some reason part of me is not believing what is going on. I'm afraid to wake up tomorrow and figure out this was all a nice dream, that's how it feels now, like a dream come true. Not only that is scary, but the fact that I'm influencing so many people adds a ton of pressure to my next move. This project started as something personal and now it outgrew the initial purpose which was to become a brave person. Now, my purpose is to keep facing my own fears but also to inspire millions while doing it, and that's a huge challenge and responsibility to take in. I have no clue of what the future will bring and I'm excited but nervous at the same time. For now, I'll keep doing what I've been doing, facing fears, writing about it and hopefully reaching more and more people that need some push to face their own fears.

Go to PRESS to read more about this, get the links and some fan love!

Day 42: Get rejected

What's the challenge?

To hand out flyers in the street.

What are you afraid of?

Rejection and being ridiculous.

How was the experience?

Ever since I moved to NY I decided to join the movement of ignoring and rejecting people who hand out flyers on the street; New Yorkers don't want any flyers! So, in the hope of feeling rejected time after time I decided to do exactly what I hate to encounter and try to avoid the most. I designed some flyers telling the story about my 100 day project and I tried to hand them out to people for at least 30 minutes around Columbus Circle where I normally get them. I felt completely ridiculous at first and then I was even making fun of the fact that I was bothering so many people on their way to work. I learned not to take myself so serious and have fun with it; I even got asked out on a date to Wendy's! Wonderful things can happen when you decide to face rejection, deal with it and move on (Wendy's not being the wonderful thing in this case).