ArLynn Presser is a 51 year old woman from Winnetka, Illinois who has been living with 'agoraphobia' for past 30 years. Agoraphobia is the fear of crowded spaces or enclosed public places. Her fear was so severe, that she couldn't muster the courage to go to her son's graduation. Presser is a romance novelist and regional historian, she is scared of traveling, petrified of flying, gets panic attacks when she steps out of the house and stays in touch with all her friends through the Internet. She is the same woman who later took 39 flights to 13 countries, including countries like Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, India, UAE, Italy Germany, England, Canada, Mexico and all over the USA.

Presser's world was her home, a place where she felt safe, but on New Year eve of 2011, she decided to face her fears and embark on a journey of a lifetime. She decided to meet all her Facebook friends around the world, here's what she wrote in a blog post on 31st December 2010:

"There are five hundred million facebook users and the average number of friends any user has is 130. Fifty percent of active users log in every day and I do it before I brush my teeth or even get out of bed. I don’t know how many friends Mark Zuckerberg has but his facebook page lists 2,381,043 people who like him. 

Oprah Winfrey says that many people want to ride in the limousine with you, but a true friend will take the bus with you when the limousine breaks down.  And it is the playwright Plautus who said that nothing is better than heaven itself than a true friend. This is the year I will meet every one of them."

Out of 325 people in her Facebook friends list, she managed to meet 90% of them, while most of her friends were really excited about her Face to Facebook project, some of them were not so enthusiastic about it. 18 people ignored her repeated requests to meet her, some even removed her from their friends list, 5 people had passed away and two profiles were of pets.

"Most people have been incredibly welcoming,'' she said. "But there's a good chunk, I'd say roughly five or 10 per cent of friends who were like, wait a minute, I'm not sure I want to do this . . . (Friends that) would very much prefer to keep an Internet friendship strictly on the Internet.''

During her remarkable journey, Presser did some training to be a bodyguard, took Zumba lessons, climbed a mountain in California, learned Opera singing, rode in a motorcycle sidecar and learnt how to open a champagne bottle with a Sabre.  And now, her inspirational journey is in the process of becoming a documentary.

One of her Facebook friends, Ben Gonzales was very touched by her project, not only was it emotionally daunting for her, but a very brave decision to overcome her fear in such a monumental manner. He saw a lot of potential in her global adventure and decided to document it, the documentary will be released this year.




Today, her resolution is over, and not only has she successfully overcome her anxiety issues and fear of public spaces, she is now determined to help more and more people to face their fears and live a life outside of the virtual world.

"I probably use facebook to keep in touch with my friends in a way that may be good or might just give me a false sense of intimacy.  I find MySpace a little jarring.  I am hopeless at Twitter.  LinkedIn makes me feel like an underachiever. For my “Face to Facebook” project, I have met almost every one of my Facebook friends this past year and have learned to get out and face my fears. This coming year, I’m dedicating my time and energy to helping people like you do the same!" shares Presser.

To learn more about Face To Facebook project and the amazing ArLynn Presser, you can visit this page: http://www.f2fb.net/. You can also check out her blog: arlynnpresser.wordpress.com.


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