“I learned about the process of exposure, which involved moving towards what scared me rather than avoiding it. Once I learned about this I said: Well, I’m just going to expose myself to what I’m scared of until I’m not scared any more. This can be a brilliant philosophy, but I did it with an incredible amount of perfectionism, self-criticism and self-judgment. Also, doubts lingered about who I was and what I really wanted. I had dozens of ideas about how I should be, and I was continually striving to live up to my unrealistic expectations.”