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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
DNF. The book generalizes anxiety and sort of does a kitchen sink approach about ways of managing it. Then with that kitchen sink, throws around some pretty dodgy ideas.
For example, when talking about gratitude journaling, she claims that you can’t be both anxious and grateful at once. As an anxious person who also knows many anxious people, I don’t know any that aren’t grateful when life throws them a bone, especially when they’re used to feeling like everything is going terribly.
Another, which I found hilarious, was suggesting that you speak to a child when you’re anxious. The thought process behind this is that having to change your cadence and subject matter can help you get out of your head. However, I couldn’t help but think of the passage as I stood in line at the store and heard a child saying, “Mom! Moom! Mommy! If we got this, we could put it on a cat! Mom! Can we get a cat?! Mooooom!”
Along with this, I feel like the author mixes some of her issues with OCD into the same pot as her anxiety, and that causes some descriptions to land poorly. Like, she describes anxiety as the sense of things needing to be done when nothing needs to be done. That we have some void that needs to be filled. That’s certainly a kind of anxiety, but that’s handled differently than what I normally experience, which isn’t so much the sense that nothing needs to be done and I feel like something needs to happen, but that I have an ongoing reel of catastrophic scenarios I’m expecting to happen, which is different.
All around, I can’t recommend this. It’s getting her experience and applying it broadly in ways that don’t really guide the reader. And sure, she’s clear upfront that this is more of a memoir, but there aren’t many stories or real memories that are relatable.
For example, when talking about gratitude journaling, she claims that you can’t be both anxious and grateful at once. As an anxious person who also knows many anxious people, I don’t know any that aren’t grateful when life throws them a bone, especially when they’re used to feeling like everything is going terribly.
Another, which I found hilarious, was suggesting that you speak to a child when you’re anxious. The thought process behind this is that having to change your cadence and subject matter can help you get out of your head. However, I couldn’t help but think of the passage as I stood in line at the store and heard a child saying, “Mom! Moom! Mommy! If we got this, we could put it on a cat! Mom! Can we get a cat?! Mooooom!”
Along with this, I feel like the author mixes some of her issues with OCD into the same pot as her anxiety, and that causes some descriptions to land poorly. Like, she describes anxiety as the sense of things needing to be done when nothing needs to be done. That we have some void that needs to be filled. That’s certainly a kind of anxiety, but that’s handled differently than what I normally experience, which isn’t so much the sense that nothing needs to be done and I feel like something needs to happen, but that I have an ongoing reel of catastrophic scenarios I’m expecting to happen, which is different.
All around, I can’t recommend this. It’s getting her experience and applying it broadly in ways that don’t really guide the reader. And sure, she’s clear upfront that this is more of a memoir, but there aren’t many stories or real memories that are relatable.
4.5 stars - I really really enjoyed this book. I appreciated that the author didn't leave anything for the imagination, and seemed to discuss so many topics and issues of anxiety fully. I learned so much from this book, and left at least 45 different sticky tabs and annotations in the margins of this. My only minor complaint would be that the ending felt just the tiniest bit disorganized, but it didn't ruin the author's transparency, clear knowledge and heartfelt discussion around anxiety and being human.
I wanted to like this. Bits of it, I did like. Sarah Wilson is honest and open about her mental health and that is brave and admirable. Some of her insights really resonated with me.
But the book as a whole was chaotic, unstructured and made me feel a bit anxious. She frequently mentioned her editors but there was precious little other evidence that the book had been edited (and I am a book editor). It was exhausting.
Honestly, the author sounds like a nightmare. Well intentioned, eloquent, undoubtedly talented... but a high maintenance chaos vortex. Not because she's anxious, but because she's self involved to the point of narcissism. She is also insanely privileged and doesn't seem to realise that just wandering off to India for a month, quitting jobs on a whim, or moving cities every other month isn't exactly the norm. Also, the anti-sugar evangelism annoyed me. Fair enough, mention it once. But not over and over again.
Frustrating book. The seeds of something remarkable - but they didn't flower for me.
But the book as a whole was chaotic, unstructured and made me feel a bit anxious. She frequently mentioned her editors but there was precious little other evidence that the book had been edited (and I am a book editor). It was exhausting.
Honestly, the author sounds like a nightmare. Well intentioned, eloquent, undoubtedly talented... but a high maintenance chaos vortex. Not because she's anxious, but because she's self involved to the point of narcissism. She is also insanely privileged and doesn't seem to realise that just wandering off to India for a month, quitting jobs on a whim, or moving cities every other month isn't exactly the norm. Also, the anti-sugar evangelism annoyed me. Fair enough, mention it once. But not over and over again.
Frustrating book. The seeds of something remarkable - but they didn't flower for me.
Gosh, this was such a fantastic book for me. Seeing the other reviews I realize this is totally subjective, but it really hit home for me. I very much wish that I had taken notes while I was listening to this but mostly I was listening to it while doing other things (driving, walking, etc.). Since it was an audiobook, Sarah Wilson's Australian accent was soothing. I couldn't necessarily listen to it all in one sitting and when I found my mind drifting off I went to something else.
Some things that struck me (not in order since I'm trying to remember!)
1) Being anxious isn't a bad thing...it's thinking about the future and that's what makes us human. I realize this is like saying "there's nothing wrong with me! I'm fine the way I am!" when it can be very destructive but the message out in the world is that if you're anxious you're a crazy person so I really appreciated it.
2) A lot of famous people were anxious, like Charles Darwin. A lot of people viewed anxiety as a creative energy source. Really, just hearing about all the people having anxiety is a good thing.
3) Doing little things with your day can help calm your mind. Taking walks. Making the bed. Not eating sugar (mehhhhh which I'm currently doing now). Doing meditation (I'm terrible at meditation, so I like deep breathing and short yoga videos). Morning routines.
4) There were a few things that wasn't particularly good at describing--such as "settling into your anxiety" instead of trying to fight it. I sort of get what she's trying to say here and I appreciated her one analogy of trying to stop the flow of a river but building a dam when maybe you should just grab onto a sturdy log.
--This probably spoke to me because I'm a self-described "planner" which is a euphemistic way of saying "I like to control things" or "I'm wound up pretty tight"- she's suggesting that the controlling of the things is causing anxiety and maybe just to let things happen. Which I think is fine to say to someone like me who needs to loosen up a little bit.
5) The concept of a "life natural" - people who don't struggle with anxiety or depression and seemingly float through life without problems - yes, yes, yes. I don't necessarily like opening up to these people because the look of horror on their face ("what's wrong with you??") isn't a great feeling.
6) Being okay with the uncertainty of life (which I've NEVER been good at) (aka wabi-sabi)
Some things that struck me (not in order since I'm trying to remember!)
1) Being anxious isn't a bad thing...it's thinking about the future and that's what makes us human. I realize this is like saying "there's nothing wrong with me! I'm fine the way I am!" when it can be very destructive but the message out in the world is that if you're anxious you're a crazy person so I really appreciated it.
2) A lot of famous people were anxious, like Charles Darwin. A lot of people viewed anxiety as a creative energy source. Really, just hearing about all the people having anxiety is a good thing.
3) Doing little things with your day can help calm your mind. Taking walks. Making the bed. Not eating sugar (mehhhhh which I'm currently doing now). Doing meditation (I'm terrible at meditation, so I like deep breathing and short yoga videos). Morning routines.
4) There were a few things that wasn't particularly good at describing--such as "settling into your anxiety" instead of trying to fight it. I sort of get what she's trying to say here and I appreciated her one analogy of trying to stop the flow of a river but building a dam when maybe you should just grab onto a sturdy log.
--This probably spoke to me because I'm a self-described "planner" which is a euphemistic way of saying "I like to control things" or "I'm wound up pretty tight"- she's suggesting that the controlling of the things is causing anxiety and maybe just to let things happen. Which I think is fine to say to someone like me who needs to loosen up a little bit.
5) The concept of a "life natural" - people who don't struggle with anxiety or depression and seemingly float through life without problems - yes, yes, yes. I don't necessarily like opening up to these people because the look of horror on their face ("what's wrong with you??") isn't a great feeling.
6) Being okay with the uncertainty of life (which I've NEVER been good at) (aka wabi-sabi)
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
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.