Kristen Lee - Worth the Risk: How to Microdose Bravery to Grow Resilience, Connect More, and Offer Yourself to the World

Praise for Worth the Risk

A bold blend of science, story, humor, and wisdom that helps us reimagine fear and embody courage, creativity, and positive contribution. A must read for anyone wanting to shine brighter without burning out.

Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD

author of Transcend and host of The Psychology Podcast

With great candor, spirit, and expertise, Kristen Lee shows us that small acts of courage arent small at all. A must read for anyone willing to get more comfortable with the uncomfortable and live with the aliveness the world needs to be better and brighter.

Agapi Stassinopoulos

author of Wake Up to the Joy of You

Whats scarce in the world isnt smart people or people with good ideas, but brave people willing to show up and do the work of cocreating a better world. This wonderful, entertaining, and ridiculously practical book shows how becoming more brave can be a fun, imminently doable adventure, not a road to terror or burnout. Read it, microdose bravery, and start finishing the bridge to your what is life.

Charlie Gilkey

author of Start Finishing: How to Go From Idea to Done

Every chapter is a therapy session that teaches in elegant but easily understandable language several logical but pragmatic strategies to increase your resilience. And once you start reading the book, you cant put it down.

Dilip V. Jeste, MD

author of Wiser and senior associate dean for Healthy Aging and Senior Care, University of California, San Diego

A brilliant fusion of science and story that reminds us we are never alone, that courage is always within reach.

Alison Malmon

founder and director of Active Minds

Worth the Risk stands out from the pack. Dr. Lees writing distinguishes itself, sparkling with originality. And her own courage and sense of urgency are certain to inspire, comfort, and motivate.

David Van Nuys, PhD

host of the Shrink Rap Radio podcast

This book is the gateway drug to building your courage. Dr. Kris cuts through the BS of self-help with a detailed how-to list of creating a courageous life filled with thrilling creative risk-taking. From looking in to speaking out, she shows us that we can microdose courage in an effort to make a beeline toward a life of (possibly messy but meaningful) energy, passion, and purpose.

Katie Goodman

award-winning comedian and author of Improvisation for the Spirit

Witty, honest, and grounded in science without a whiff of pretentiousness.

Carol Pelletier Radford

bestselling author of Teaching with Light

Kris(ten) Lee

EdD, LICSW

Sounds True

Boulder, CO 80306

2022 Kristen Lee

Sounds True is a trademark of Sounds True, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author(s) and publisher.

Published 2022

Cover design by Mia Cupidro

Book design by Linsey Dodaro

BK06285

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lee, Kristen, author.

Title: Worth the risk : how to microdose bravery to grow resilience, connect more, and offer yourself to the world / Kris(ten) Lee, EdD, LICSW.

Description: Boulder, CO : Sounds True, 2022. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021059257 (print) | LCCN 2021059258 (ebook) | ISBN 9781683648505 (hardback) | ISBN 9781683648512 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Resilience (Personality trait) | Self-actualization (Psychology)

Classification: LCC BF698.35.R47 L44 2022 (print) | LCC BF698.35.R47 (ebook) | DDC 158.1dc23/eng/20211217

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059257

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059258

For Georgia Klamon-Miller, the mintiest of mints and definition of brave.

And Auntie Pat, the ultimate character.

Ive been absolutely terrified every moment of my lifeand Ive never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do...

Georgia OKeeffe

: This is a work of nonfiction representing a combination of clinical, teaching, research, and life perspectives. To protect the privacy of those featured, certain names and identifying traits have been changed. If it sounds just like you, dont worry, I havent been spying. Its just that we have a lottttt to try and be brave with. This book is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, or an end-all-be-all to risk taking. Like any work, there will be flaws and contradictions, since our understanding is always shifting, and perfect isnt a thing...

Brave is not something you should wait to feel. Brave is a decision...

Glennon Doyle

T here are times when it becomes clear that certain risks are worth taking. For me, it happened at 9:01 pm on a Thursday. Within .02 seconds, Ms. Pat has total command over the sold-out audience at Laugh Boston Comedy Club. Rips into a young couple in the front. Cracks jokes about being too old for blowjobs.

I am there with my comedian friend J. Smitty: hes hoping to get Ms. Pat to headline his show the next night. The ice has melted in our drinks. We are laughing too much for even a quick sip. He hadnt said much about herjust that she was funny and that all the shit she talks about is true.

Patricia Williams, whose stage name is Ms. Pat, has overcome serious odds. As in being shot in the nipple, run down by a truck, raped, pregnant at fourteen, facing racism/sexism/classism, serving jail time kind-of-odds. Its hard to believe the whole room is gasping for air, not out of shock, but side-splitting laughter while she drops one trauma truth bomb after another. But that is Ms. Pats brilliance.

At the end of the performance, her tone changes. It is the first time of the night when the neon-blue room with the word LAUGH spelled out in globe lights comes to a hush. She tells us to be brave, to tell our stories. No matter the cost. She tells us this is what we must do. That courage can pay off, even when it first seems like too big a risk. She is living proof that our own healing can inspire collective healing. We cheer wildly. Ms. Pat tells us to meet her at the merchandise table. Shes holding up a T-shirt that says, Its never too late to tell your truth. The laughs vanishshes no longer joking.

When the lights come up, we jump off our metal swivel stools and wait in line alongside eager fans whose stomachs hurt from queso fries and uncontrollable laughter. I buy her memoir and thank her for her bravery. I awkwardly tell her that I too am a writer and speaker; that Ive told my story publicly. Her polite smile is generousthe only guns I saw in my white, rural small town were for hunting, there was always food on the table, and the only time Id been in a prison was while working in a minimum-security unit during my early clinical training. Not exactly comparative to her experiences as a Black woman on the streets of Atlanta. Ms. Pat signs my book and J. Smitty convinces her to do his show. We are both smiling as we duck through the Boston rain and smush into our Uber that smells like wet dog with a hint of Vanillaroma.

By the next afternoon, Id already read every word of