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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
To start off, this was the most unhinged and chaotic lifestyle I have read about someone. As other's have put it, she does write about "overcoming anxiety" from a very distant standpoint that not a lot of us have the privilege to obtain. But honestly, she did fairly well transforming this "beast" that anxiety can be into something beautiful; something very much human and a part of what makes us who we are. There were a lot of enlightening perspectives she shared that I hadn't considered or thought of. And some of the many way too fucking many quotes she included from her inspirations held a lot of valuable insight to taming such a frustrating feeling.
But the parts that made it difficult to read are as follows:
As much as I love a conversational tone from time to time--especially with very heavy topics--it was way too distracting. I was struggling the whole time reading this book to keep focus on what she was trying to explain. This sort of writing style also made the majority of the book feel long a suuuuuuuuper lonnnnnnggggg ramble of different things. And it was frustrating that the majority of the book didn't even feel like it was about ways to manage anxiety, it was all about her experiences with anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD, and any chaotic situation she stumbled upon. And lets not forget to mention that these experiences were literally humble brags sprinkled with various quotes from her favorite philosophers, scientists, friends, and inspirations. Just very random quotes that often had nothing to do with what she was writing about.
Also, maybe it was just me but a big chunk of this book felt like an advertisement for her other book I Quit Sugar. That's great that she quit sugar, but honestly I can't connect as to how that sincerely helped her accept her anxiety. She just said she felt good quitting. Honestly, it was parts like that that made me question if this should even be considered a guide or a memoir of her life about what makes her feel better. Again, there were good parts but it was so scattered and unorganized, I had no idea what she was trying to get at. If this were to be cut down into a legitimate self-care book it would have been reduced to 100 pages or so--all of actual advice without the random stories praising her experiences as if they're an everyday opportunity (sorry, I wasn't entirely moved by reading someone complain about being able to drop everything and fly out to Thailand to meditate and relax just because things didn't go their way). I sorta felt distant from the advice at times or confused as some things contradicted one another. Idk, interesting buuuuuuut not my favorite. Definitely could have been separated into 2 completely different books.
But the parts that made it difficult to read are as follows:
As much as I love a conversational tone from time to time--especially with very heavy topics--it was way too distracting. I was struggling the whole time reading this book to keep focus on what she was trying to explain. This sort of writing style also made the majority of the book feel long a suuuuuuuuper lonnnnnnggggg ramble of different things. And it was frustrating that the majority of the book didn't even feel like it was about ways to manage anxiety, it was all about her experiences with anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD, and any chaotic situation she stumbled upon. And lets not forget to mention that these experiences were literally humble brags sprinkled with various quotes from her favorite philosophers, scientists, friends, and inspirations. Just very random quotes that often had nothing to do with what she was writing about.
Also, maybe it was just me but a big chunk of this book felt like an advertisement for her other book I Quit Sugar. That's great that she quit sugar, but honestly I can't connect as to how that sincerely helped her accept her anxiety. She just said she felt good quitting. Honestly, it was parts like that that made me question if this should even be considered a guide or a memoir of her life about what makes her feel better. Again, there were good parts but it was so scattered and unorganized, I had no idea what she was trying to get at. If this were to be cut down into a legitimate self-care book it would have been reduced to 100 pages or so--all of actual advice without the random stories praising her experiences as if they're an everyday opportunity (sorry, I wasn't entirely moved by reading someone complain about being able to drop everything and fly out to Thailand to meditate and relax just because things didn't go their way). I sorta felt distant from the advice at times or confused as some things contradicted one another. Idk, interesting buuuuuuut not my favorite. Definitely could have been separated into 2 completely different books.
I would say this is a relatively fresh take on mental health issues (specifically anxiety) and how to cope with the diagnosis. Wilson also adds sections about communication with partners in order to support relationships touched by anxiety. I really appreciated this hybrid memoir-self-help book.
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
I couldn't make it halfway. I was so excited about this book- an anxiety memoir! But what happened? Was this book ever edited?? There are some interesting ideas in here but the lack of editing renders it nearly unreadable.
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
An engaging and helpful book on anxiety. I was enjoying it so much that I wanted more.
I didn’t find this book to be helpful or interesting, unfortunately.
Makes me feel not alone. The way she describes anxiety is EXACTLY how I feel it. Thank you Sarah for such an amazing book
Urgh. If you’ve never ever heard of anxiety before & you enjoy reading celeb gossip mags this might be the book for you.