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kelly_e 's review for:
All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live with Anxiety
by David A. Robertson
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Title: All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live with Anxiety
Author: David A. Robertson
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4.50
Pub Date: January 21, 2025
I received a complimentary eARC from HarperCollins Canada via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted
T H R E E • W O R D S
Insightful • Relatable • Candid
📖 S Y N O P S I S
From the outside, David A. Robertson looks as if he has it all together—a loving family, a successful career as an author, and a platform to promote Indigenous perspectives, cultures and concerns. But what we see on the outside rarely reveals what is happening inside. Robertson lives with “little monsters”: chronic, debilitating health anxiety and panic attacks accompanied, at times, by depression. During the worst periods, he finds getting out of bed to walk down the hall an insurmountable task. During the better times, he wrestles with the compulsion to scan his body for that sure sign of a dire health crisis.
In All the Little Monsters, Robertson reveals what it’s like to live inside his mind and his body and describes the toll his mental health challenges have taken on him and his family, and how he has learned to put one foot in front of the other as well as to get back up when he stumbles. He also writes about the tools that have helped him carry on, including community, therapy, medication and the simple question he asks himself on repeat: what if everything will be okay?
💭 T H O U G H T S
Anxiety is ever-present, and a life-long journey, in my own life, so I knew I wanted to read All the Little Mosnters from Canadian author David A. Robertson, where he unpacks his own experience living with chronic anxiety and depression. Memoirs relating to mental health are one of my favourite sub-genres because I often find them highly relatable and deeply honest - such is the case with this one.
With deep vulnerability, David offers a window into the daily challenges and realities of living with chronic anxiety. For people who haven't experienced anxiety and depression, it is often hard to fully understand the grasp it takes, yet David does a very good job describing the day-to-day living and how there are these constant voices working against us.
He writes with heart and humour as he presents his story in such an accessible and conversational manner. He never sugarcoats things, yet offers hope and tools for navigating 'the little monsters'. I gravitated towards the parts where he explains how anxiety manifests in physical symptoms. This is an often misunderstood aspect of mental illness. I also appreciated how he shares strategies which have worked for him, particularly the power of community. Withdrawing is often one of the core elements of anxiety and depression, yet isolations exacerbates it and this is a reminder to have those people to support you through on the toughest of days.
David's story is one of the memoirs I have seen myself within the most and I greatly appreciate his writing his story and hope it helps others on their own mental health journeys. This is the type of book I would recommend to those living with mental illness, yet also to those who love someone with anxiety and/or depression. All the Little Monsters is only my second book from this author, and I would really like to explore more of his work, not only his writing.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• mental illness reads
• real-life memoirs
• feeling supported on your journey
⚠️ CW: mental illness, chronic anxiety, panic attacks/disorders, OCD, depression, suicidal thoughts, alcoholism, alcohol, medical content, medical trauma, death, death of parent, grief, cursing, car accident, terminal illness, ALS
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Mental health is a journey, and it's not a day trip. It's lifelong."
"There's no judgement anywhere in the world of mental health, not towards yourself, and not towards others. I have come to learn that kindness, above all else, is the most productive thing."
"If you are at rock bottom, and so deep down in a pit that you are convinced you will never find your way out of it. I want to tell you that it will be okay. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But it will be okay. Your job is to make it through that day, that tomorrow, until the pit feels a bit shallower, and climbing out of it seems like a possibility. And do you know what else? Nobody really understands anxiety or struggles with mental health unless they have experienced it. Some people may be in the shit, and they don't want to admit it, or they may not be ready to talk about it, and that requires kindness above all else."
"The more you pay attention to your symptoms, the worse they get, the more you worry about them, the worse they get, and on and on and on it goes."
"Whatever those little monsters are saying to you, they are always lying, no matter how convincing they sound."
"Representation is a pathway to healing."
Author: David A. Robertson
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4.50
Pub Date: January 21, 2025
I received a complimentary eARC from HarperCollins Canada via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted
T H R E E • W O R D S
Insightful • Relatable • Candid
📖 S Y N O P S I S
From the outside, David A. Robertson looks as if he has it all together—a loving family, a successful career as an author, and a platform to promote Indigenous perspectives, cultures and concerns. But what we see on the outside rarely reveals what is happening inside. Robertson lives with “little monsters”: chronic, debilitating health anxiety and panic attacks accompanied, at times, by depression. During the worst periods, he finds getting out of bed to walk down the hall an insurmountable task. During the better times, he wrestles with the compulsion to scan his body for that sure sign of a dire health crisis.
In All the Little Monsters, Robertson reveals what it’s like to live inside his mind and his body and describes the toll his mental health challenges have taken on him and his family, and how he has learned to put one foot in front of the other as well as to get back up when he stumbles. He also writes about the tools that have helped him carry on, including community, therapy, medication and the simple question he asks himself on repeat: what if everything will be okay?
💭 T H O U G H T S
Anxiety is ever-present, and a life-long journey, in my own life, so I knew I wanted to read All the Little Mosnters from Canadian author David A. Robertson, where he unpacks his own experience living with chronic anxiety and depression. Memoirs relating to mental health are one of my favourite sub-genres because I often find them highly relatable and deeply honest - such is the case with this one.
With deep vulnerability, David offers a window into the daily challenges and realities of living with chronic anxiety. For people who haven't experienced anxiety and depression, it is often hard to fully understand the grasp it takes, yet David does a very good job describing the day-to-day living and how there are these constant voices working against us.
He writes with heart and humour as he presents his story in such an accessible and conversational manner. He never sugarcoats things, yet offers hope and tools for navigating 'the little monsters'. I gravitated towards the parts where he explains how anxiety manifests in physical symptoms. This is an often misunderstood aspect of mental illness. I also appreciated how he shares strategies which have worked for him, particularly the power of community. Withdrawing is often one of the core elements of anxiety and depression, yet isolations exacerbates it and this is a reminder to have those people to support you through on the toughest of days.
David's story is one of the memoirs I have seen myself within the most and I greatly appreciate his writing his story and hope it helps others on their own mental health journeys. This is the type of book I would recommend to those living with mental illness, yet also to those who love someone with anxiety and/or depression. All the Little Monsters is only my second book from this author, and I would really like to explore more of his work, not only his writing.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• mental illness reads
• real-life memoirs
• feeling supported on your journey
⚠️ CW: mental illness, chronic anxiety, panic attacks/disorders, OCD, depression, suicidal thoughts, alcoholism, alcohol, medical content, medical trauma, death, death of parent, grief, cursing, car accident, terminal illness, ALS
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Mental health is a journey, and it's not a day trip. It's lifelong."
"There's no judgement anywhere in the world of mental health, not towards yourself, and not towards others. I have come to learn that kindness, above all else, is the most productive thing."
"If you are at rock bottom, and so deep down in a pit that you are convinced you will never find your way out of it. I want to tell you that it will be okay. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But it will be okay. Your job is to make it through that day, that tomorrow, until the pit feels a bit shallower, and climbing out of it seems like a possibility. And do you know what else? Nobody really understands anxiety or struggles with mental health unless they have experienced it. Some people may be in the shit, and they don't want to admit it, or they may not be ready to talk about it, and that requires kindness above all else."
"The more you pay attention to your symptoms, the worse they get, the more you worry about them, the worse they get, and on and on and on it goes."
"Whatever those little monsters are saying to you, they are always lying, no matter how convincing they sound."
"Representation is a pathway to healing."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Cursing, Terminal illness, Car accident
chronic anxiety, OCD, depression, ALS