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The first thing you’ll notice about Michelle Poler is the confidence she radiates. That wasn’t always the case. As a child, she was intimidated by the world and found a way to deal with her fears by avoiding risk and controlling her surroundings as best she could. But in 2014, after she moved to New York City to pursue a master's degree at the School of Visual Arts, she found that everything that frightened her actually got in the way of enjoying her new home. When a class assignment called for her to put together a 100-day creative project, the 26-year-old Venezuela-native decided to face the things that scared her the most - in order to live her life to the fullest.
"Trying to control New York has been a nightmare," she writes on her website, "but what really pushed me to pursue this project was not the controlled lifestyle I left behind, it is the frustration of not enjoying this city and life in general to the fullest."
And thus 100 Days Without Fear was born. Every day for 100 days, Poler took on a different thing that scared her, and documented the experience on YouTube. Most of what she did wasn't actively dangerous, but rather consisted of facing the ordinary little things that used to intimidate her, and doing them even though they might make her feel freaked out or anxious. In those 100 days Poler held a cat, went diving with sharks, rollerblading in Central Park, changed her hair color, quit her job, and walked around New York in pyjamas, among other things, proving to herself and the world that most of our fears live only in our heads.
"I've learned so many things, things about myself and about human behavior," Michelle says now that she finished the challenge. "I learned how to transform a fear into a challenge which has helped a lot. I learned to face fears with excitement instead of horror. [...] I learned that when I'm alone, I'm actually not alone, I'm with myself. I learned that facing my fears inspire other to face their own fears and that gave so much more meaning to my project."
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