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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
I'm gonna say 2.5 stars. This was a case where I had high hopes based on how gorgeous the cover/book design was, although I picked it up for the subject matter and not the cover. As a pretty-much-lifelong anxiety sufferer, I was interested in how the author reframed anxiety to make it more bearable. I want to point out that I'd not heard of the author prior to this.
There are little gems of advice here, some things to try (though she keeps saying she's not a medical professional so everything comes with a grain of salt) - also many recommendations about quitting sugar, which she just happens to have written books and a program about.
I don't judge her life. She's had a much worse experience with anxiety than me, including major panic attacks, bipolar, OCD and suicide attempts. I'm really glad she is finding better footing and some coping mechanisms that work for her... but then she casually drops in the final pages that she had two suicide attempts just during writing the book. So, is this really helping as much as she is suggesting? I don't know.
I'm glad I read it although I got bogged down in the last third. Our lives are completely different and I don't know if this will offer me any help going forward, but I will always be rooting for her to continue to find herself on a better journey with her anxiety.
There are little gems of advice here, some things to try (though she keeps saying she's not a medical professional so everything comes with a grain of salt) - also many recommendations about quitting sugar, which she just happens to have written books and a program about.
I don't judge her life. She's had a much worse experience with anxiety than me, including major panic attacks, bipolar, OCD and suicide attempts. I'm really glad she is finding better footing and some coping mechanisms that work for her... but then she casually drops in the final pages that she had two suicide attempts just during writing the book. So, is this really helping as much as she is suggesting? I don't know.
I'm glad I read it although I got bogged down in the last third. Our lives are completely different and I don't know if this will offer me any help going forward, but I will always be rooting for her to continue to find herself on a better journey with her anxiety.
Probably need to be more emotionally stable to read this
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Really good down to earth book with lots of helpful insight and advice
reflective
slow-paced
inspiring
reflective
I agree entirely with this other review from Truman Rose: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/46004e6f-7868-4333-a40d-78f38762324f could not find a cohesive story and instead felt confused (even anxious at times) trying to find the pt or trying to find if I should believe the author, who frequently acknowledged she does not have medical insight and would share things followed by “I don’t know why I’m writing about this.” Okay…. Then neither do we; that’s kind of the writer’s job to guide readers through what they are actually trying to say.
I quite like Sarah Wilson's non-IQuitSugar writing. It's curious and feels honest. So I was really looking forward to this one - and it was on a topic very close to my heart. While I think it's awesome that this has been written, and it has some useful information in it, and is getting into the hands and minds of so many who will relate and benefit ... it was just too all-over-the-shop to work as a coherent book - or story - for me.
Poignant, searingly honest, and extremely funny at times, 'First, We Make The Best Beautiful' made one more person feel less alone in their journey. We highly-sensitive, sometimes highly-strung folk called "the anxious" are not alone in our experience, and Wilson's meandering memoir really accurately and authentically lays out how a high-functioning, high-achieving person can be in the grips of a crippling sense of anxiety - and what that looks like. Via a splattering of heartfelt stories about her nomadic journey, along with pertinent quotes weaved in, Sarah's story has made me really question my sense of shame around my own anxiety and readdress the need to run away or "fix" it. FWMTBB has empowered to live my best anxious life - understand it, own it, embrace it.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced