Bold Move: How to Stop Avoiding and Start Living

Inspired by Luana Marques, Ph.D.

“Fear is loud, but courage doesn’t have to shout.”

Have you ever found yourself stuck—not because you don’t know what to do, but because fear, doubt, or overwhelm is keeping you frozen? In her powerful book Bold Move, Harvard psychologist Dr. Luana Marques offers a science-backed, compassionate roadmap for moving through fear and into the life you actually want to live.

This post explores the most transformative ideas from Bold Move, with practical insights and research-backed tools to help you take action, even when it feels uncomfortable.

🚧 Avoidance Feels Safe—But It’s a Trap

Dr. Marques introduces us to a pattern that many of us know intimately: psychological avoidance. That’s when we avoid things that make us anxious or uncomfortable—whether it’s difficult conversations, new challenges, or facing old pain.

The short-term relief feels good… but over time, this avoidance becomes a trap. It shrinks our world. It makes us anxious about being anxious. And it blocks us from growing.

“Avoidance is like sugar: it gives you a quick hit of relief, but too much of it makes your life smaller.”
— Luana Marques, Ph.D.

🧠 The Science Behind Stuckness

Bold Move is rooted in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure-based techniques—approaches with decades of research behind them. Dr. Marques helps readers understand how the brain naturally wants to avoid discomfort—and how we can retrain it, gently and effectively.

Key idea:
Anxiety isn’t the enemy—avoidance is.
When we face fear in small, intentional ways, our brains learn that we can survive it. That’s how resilience grows.

🚶‍♀️ The Three Steps to Making a Bold Move

Dr. Marques lays out a clear, repeatable process to help people step out of avoidance and into bold, values-based action. Here's a breakdown:

1. Get Unstuck

This step is all about noticing how fear is running the show. Are you avoiding because you're trying to stay safe—or because you're trying to stay small?

“Your thoughts are real, but that doesn’t mean they’re true.”

Using CBT techniques, Dr. Marques helps you spot thinking traps like catastrophizing, all-or-nothing thinking, and self-doubt spirals. Naming these patterns is the first step to changing them.

2. Own Your Values

Next, she encourages you to reconnect with your values—the things that truly matter to you.

• What kind of person do you want to be?

• What gives your life meaning?

• What would you do if fear weren’t in the driver’s seat?

When your actions are tied to your values, they gain purpose—and that purpose fuels courage.

3. Make a Bold Move

This doesn’t mean skydiving or quitting your job tomorrow. A bold move is anything that challenges your avoidance and moves you one step closer to your values.

It could be:

• Speaking up in a meeting.

• Booking that first therapy session.

• Saying "yes" to something new—or saying "no" to something that’s draining you.

Bold moves are rarely loud or flashy. They’re usually quiet, small, and deeply meaningful.

❤️ What Makes This Book Special?

• Compassionate science: Dr. Marques blends hard research with soft empathy. You feel seen and supported—not judged.

• Trauma-aware: She acknowledges how past experiences shape fear responses and teaches tools to build safety and capacity for change.

• Bilingual brain framework: A unique metaphor she uses to describe the two voices in your mind—the anxious one and the wise one. Learning to listen to the wise voice is at the heart of making bold moves.

✨ Real Change Happens in Small Steps

If fear has kept you stuck—whether it’s anxiety, self-doubt, past pain, or perfectionism—Bold Move offers more than inspiration. It’s a manual for reclaiming your agency, one intentional step at a time.

“Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s feeling the fear—and doing the thing anyway.”

You don’t have to wait until you feel “ready.” You just need to be willing to begin.

💬 If This Resonated with You…

Therapy is one of the most powerful bold moves you can make. You don’t have to figure this out alone. If you're ready to stop avoiding and start living a life that feels more like you, we're here to walk with you—step by bold step.