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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
“When you have anxiety, you do learn to give up on all the perfectly Instagrammable notions of how life should be done. You just have to attend to survival sometimes.”
Well that took an awfully long time.
But a good read about anxiety and some coping mechanisms.
But a good read about anxiety and some coping mechanisms.
It's my fault really, for always reading books on the same topics and still expecting something new. I don't know why I read self-help books anymore...
DNF.
I was worried that the author had already written the book that I want to write, and I was so jealous of the title and the cover art.
But I guess I needn't have worried. I'm sure the book is helpful to some, but I found it too stream-of-consciousness and self-involved to finish reading. It is a big book, only loosely organized into chapters, and the chapters also have strange little subsections that are some attempt at organization I think but ineffectually so. It sounds like the author didn't grow up with privilege but the endless parade of wellness retreats and specialists ("hormone clinician"?) makes it clear her life isn't terribly generalizable.
I was worried that the author had already written the book that I want to write, and I was so jealous of the title and the cover art.
But I guess I needn't have worried. I'm sure the book is helpful to some, but I found it too stream-of-consciousness and self-involved to finish reading. It is a big book, only loosely organized into chapters, and the chapters also have strange little subsections that are some attempt at organization I think but ineffectually so. It sounds like the author didn't grow up with privilege but the endless parade of wellness retreats and specialists ("hormone clinician"?) makes it clear her life isn't terribly generalizable.
Her personal story is interesting, but there was too much 'this worked for me, so this is the only way,' combined with a lot of famous name dropping and quoting from random other books. (Also, I am still slightly traumatised by the idea that she tapes her mouth shut with surgical tape every night before sleep. That is an anxiety-inducing image for sure.)
This book was everything for me. Made me feel heard and seen and helped me untangle the many, many thoughts I constantly have whirring inside my head. It brought me such a sense of calm and relief and allowed me to really breathe for the first time in I don’t know how long.
Here’s the thing. As the mixed reviews may reveal- this book is not for everyone. But when it comes to mental health, you never quite know what will click, and you take what you can when it does. The author opens the book with the disclaimer that this is not a self-help book. It’s her reflecting on her experiences of living with anxiety. Does she deliver some tips? Yes. Do those tips have to work for everyone? No. They simply worked for her. She’s not a doctor and says so upfront - this is important. I went into this book curious, interested in learning from her experiences, and always taking everything she said with a grain of salt. And for me, this book was a trove of treasures - something I want to revisit again and again and again. It’s a beautifully written narrative and just makes so much sense to my anxiety-ridden mind.
Sarah Wilson has a magical way with words and manages to describe and capture the trials of living with anxiety in a way that feels both intimate and familiar. She shares her thoughts, questions, points of frustrations, and learnings through her journey and ultimately reveals how she found herself controlling, relying on, and using her anxiety rather than letting her anxiety control her. I found her tale to be both captivating and thought-provoking.
I listened to this as an audiobook and found that the audio version felt more conversational and acted as a helpful reminder that this is just one person’s experience and not a medical source of truth. I fully intend on purchasing a print copy that I can revisit again and again, but can appreciate that some people who read the print version felt this book contained inconsistencies in the narrative and came off more as a self-help book, which it is not.
Here’s the thing. As the mixed reviews may reveal- this book is not for everyone. But when it comes to mental health, you never quite know what will click, and you take what you can when it does. The author opens the book with the disclaimer that this is not a self-help book. It’s her reflecting on her experiences of living with anxiety. Does she deliver some tips? Yes. Do those tips have to work for everyone? No. They simply worked for her. She’s not a doctor and says so upfront - this is important. I went into this book curious, interested in learning from her experiences, and always taking everything she said with a grain of salt. And for me, this book was a trove of treasures - something I want to revisit again and again and again. It’s a beautifully written narrative and just makes so much sense to my anxiety-ridden mind.
Sarah Wilson has a magical way with words and manages to describe and capture the trials of living with anxiety in a way that feels both intimate and familiar. She shares her thoughts, questions, points of frustrations, and learnings through her journey and ultimately reveals how she found herself controlling, relying on, and using her anxiety rather than letting her anxiety control her. I found her tale to be both captivating and thought-provoking.
I listened to this as an audiobook and found that the audio version felt more conversational and acted as a helpful reminder that this is just one person’s experience and not a medical source of truth. I fully intend on purchasing a print copy that I can revisit again and again, but can appreciate that some people who read the print version felt this book contained inconsistencies in the narrative and came off more as a self-help book, which it is not.
Repeatedly suggests stopping psychiatric medications but then casually mentions attempting suicide twice during the writing of this book in the last chapter. Please don't take advice from this author, there are some good depictions of anxiety but there is also a lot of pseudoscience and straight up bad advice ('do things every day or not at all'- generally NOT helpful for people struggling with perfectionism/anxiety disorders).
Some fascinating discussions of anxiety and anxiety-related disorders; however, the privileged overtones often undermined certain takeaways and advice (not many of us can pick up and move to an ashram every 2 months).
I never know how to rate non-fiction books so I will just say I would recommend.