Don’t Be Frightened
A Journey from Fear to Love
by
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I met another man a few months later at a country bar, we dated for a short time. He was about my height, dark hair and brown eyes with a mustache. I thought he was cute and he could dance a good two-step! One night after a party we returned to his house. As we walked to the door, he began complaining about me flirting with people at the party. He unlocked the door and shoved me through it. Once inside he slammed me against a wall, his hand pressed into my chest, his other hand drew back into a fist. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for impact. His fist smashed into the wall beside my head. In that moment my rage took control as it never had before and I screamed “NO!” in a voice I didn’t recognize. I shoved him away with all my strength, ran to my car, and never looked back. My heart was racing and I was shaking so badly I could barely get the key in the ignition. I drove away and vowed to never allow anyone to touch me in an aggressive way ever again. I had spent so much of my life swallowing things down. Fear. Hurt. Anger. Whatever needed to disappear so I could get through the next thing. That night it didn’t disappear. It came out. I was furious, and all that fury, hurt and pain seemed to come into my chest. I pulled the car over, screamed and pounded the steering wheel. “Why? Why is this my life? Why does this keep happening?” I cried and screamed and raged until I was physically exhausted. I spent the night in my car on the side of the road, completely drained. I drove the rest of the way to Paula’s house in the morning, feeling like I was starting all over again.
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About the Book
What if the voice you've been listening to your whole life — the one that says something is wrong with you — was never yours to begin with? In Don't Be Frightened: A Journey from Fear to Love, Lynelle Crum traces her path from a fractured childhood through loss, reinvention, and the slow, courageous work of learning to love herself. With disarming honesty and quiet wisdom, she shares the experiences that shaped her — and the tools that helped her change. Part memoir, part guide, this book offers readers not just a story to recognize themselves in, but practical practices to begin their own journey. This is not a story of having it all figured out. It is a story of becoming — one thought, one breath, one act of self-compassion at a time.
About the Author
Lynelle Crum is a retired massage therapist and mindfulness meditation teacher whose own journey through fear, loss, and self-discovery inspired Don’t Be Frightened. After nearly two decades in property management, she returned to school at fifty and began a new career in massage therapy—an experience that changed not only the work she did, but the way she understood herself. Drawing from the practices and experiences that helped shape her own life, Lynelle writes with warmth, curiosity, and the belief that growth doesn’t require us to become someone new. Sometimes it begins by learning to see ourselves differently. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, and believes, with her whole heart, that it is never too late to begin.