The "hilarious and poignant" story of one chronically anxious woman's quest to become braver by seeking out the kinds of experiences she's spent her life avoiding. (Cheryl Strayed)

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 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, got high (legally) in the middle of a workday and (perhaps scariest of all) had a session with a professional cuddler. 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, relateable and pee-your-pants funny, OKAY FINE WHATEVER reminds us that "the tiniest amount of bravery is still bravery," and that no matter who your are, it's possible to fight complacency and grow bolder a little at a time.