Independence feels scary right before it starts feeling normal.

Fear and unfamiliarity produce nearly identical sensations, and it is very hard to tell them apart from the inside. The first time you handle something alone, the appointment, the bill, the conversation, your body reports danger because it has no precedent, not because anything is wrong. The second time it reports almost nothing.

Notice that the worst part is usually the twenty minutes before. Do the thing anyway, once, and then note how quickly it stops being a big deal. Collect a few of these on purpose this month and you will feel the size of your own world change.