First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A new story about anxiety

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Inconsistencies in timelines such as (and I'm paraphrasing) 'I haven't owned a car in 5 years' to 'I spent years researching what car to buy and I bought the most environmentally sound car in the world', 'I live in the city' to 'I am a nomad and have lived in 7 different places in the last year'. Huh? I'm lost. First, We Make the Beast Beautiful is a book with a big heart, paving the way for richer, kinder and wiser conversations about anxiety. Sarah lives minimally, rides a hand-built bike and is known for travelling the world for eight years with one bag.

Welcome to First, We Make the Beast Beautiful - Sarah Wilson

I feel blessed to have encountered such a life-changing book on the library shelves by chance and would recommend this book to everyone going through similar struggles of anxiety, indecisiveness and perfectionism. This is the author’s honest and vibrant account of her struggle with anxiety and what she has done to cope or manage it throughout her life. I consider it part-memoir and part self-help book. A witty, well-researched, and often insightful book about negotiating a new relationship to anxiety.” Anxiety is a disconnection with this Something Else. As I say, the doctors and scientists can call it all kinds of things, but I believe it all comes down to this disconnect." pg 44, ebookBut dear lord it is badly written. I understand that the meandering structure is probably intended to mirror her journey to some extent, but it is sometimes a real struggle to follow her threads, internally inconsistent, has a severe over use of !!!!! and Sentences like 'But still.' or 'Do you understand where I am coming from?' I Quit Sugar founder and New York Ti mes bestselling author Sarah Wilson has lived through high anxiety - including bipolar, OCD and several suicide attempts - her whole life. Perhaps like you, she grew tired of seeing anxiety as a disease that must be medicated into submission. Could anxiety be re-sewn, she asked, into a thing of beauty?

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through

During this time, I flitted between nine countries, moved house seven times, attempted suicide twice, restructured my business and fell in love with a man...” loc 4943 I liked Wilson's definition of anxiety: she sees it as a separation of self from something larger and more meaningful. The anxiety makes us reach for this something, but we don't know what we're reaching for and it hurts. She includes a couple exercises to help bring yourself down when you're experiencing anxiety. But not too many, because: "I don't plan on filling this book with too many exercises that people like me skim over to get to the meaty theory. I'll just include the ones that suit people like you and me." pg 57, ebook I’ve written a full list of science and source endnotes from my book that you might enjoy nerding up on, you can find them here. There’s a book club guide

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The best book on living with anxiety that I’ve ever read, and I have (unfortunately) read many. Sarah is full of expert advice while remaining grounded and incredibly human. Her vulnerability is her strength. And after reading, it will hopefully be yours too.” Since the book was published at the end of February, Wilson has been swamped with people writing to her about their own issues with anxiety, or the anxiety of loved ones. This journey is what I do now. I bump along, in fits and starts, on a perpetual path to finding better ways for me and my mate, Anxiety, to get around. It's everything I do.

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through

The title is derived from a Chinese proverb I came across about twenty years ago in psychiatrist and bipolar sufferer Kay Redfield Jamison’s memoir An Unquiet Mind. I think the key takeaways from the book are that Wilson learnt that meditation, exercise and ‘sitting with her discomfort’ were her invaluable tools for healing, moving away from impulsivity and the desire to flee when things got difficult. And I get that. Mindfulness and understanding helps, that isn’t ground-breaking news but Wilson’s story sure does highlight that very well.To be honest, this book made me irritated because it made me feel like I was failing because I can’t manage my life in similar ways to her. This reaction isn’t all me and it was heavily influenced by the way she chose to structure and write this book. She made it seem that if you couldn’t follow her easy to manage suggestions then you aren’t trying hard enough to manage anxiety and you almost deserve your situation. Review copy provided by publisher) FIRST, I'm going to tell you this: this book is NOT for people in crisis and is NOT for people with severe anxiety who are not working with a physician or therapist. It is NOT a recipe for "fixing" anxiety and it's NOT a cure-all (actually, it's not a cure-anything). The bit about going to Thai massage place over the luxurious day spa as it was more 'authentic' to listen to junkies fighting outside. Cringe.

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety

The author describes the positive effects that meditation, hiking, decluttering, and quitting sugar (among other changes) have had in her life. We’ve heard about these steps from other sources about a thousand times, but when Sarah describes it she does it in a sincere and candid voice which I found compelling. Sarah Wilson: ‘Anxiety is a very lonely condition but I feel like there’s a yearning out there to connect over it.’ Photograph: Pan Macmillan Gabrielle Bernstein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of May Cause Miracles Here’s where you find all the science and source references

first, we make the beast beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety

On the positive side I loved the name and the concept of 'making the beast beautiful'. A lot of research and therapeutic approaches like positive psychology support this idea of moving from 'diagnosis' to 'compassion and acceptance'. I've found a softening towards myself and in my clients when using this approach. There were definitely little moments of inspiration for me in this book, but the majority of the book didn’t feel relatable. The format of the book was confusing and felt extremely scattered most of the time.