Help in coping with anxiety
For those who struggle with anxiety or depression, this book is a welcome companion offering real insights into the challenges of living with the conditions.
It’s a worrying statistic, not least of all because the number of people who suffer from some kind of stress-related mental health issue is set to rise further.
the question becomes: How do we tackle this growing problem and raise awareness of mental health in a country where many people don’t even believe mental ill-health exists?
Part of the problem with conditions like anxiety is that they’re often invisible.
When someone breaks a leg, we can see the physical injury, and we tend not to judge, accepting that, sometimes, we succumb to physical injury and ill-health.
When it comes to our mental health, however, problems are exacerbated by the fact that they’re often “invisible”.
Approximately one in three Malaysians will suffer from some kind of mental health issue in their lifetime.
the chances are that you know more people than you realise who struggle in silence, trying to carry on the best they can, afraid of the stigma they might receive if others know about their problem. You might be one of them. thankfully, there is a steady shift in the right direction as more people begin to realise that mental health issues are just like physical injuries: they’re a part of life, and just because you struggle doesn’t make your worth as a person any less.
After all, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, and Nelson Mandela all struggled with mental health issues.
It also helps that we have books such as sarah Wilson’s First, We Make The Beast Beautiful –an honest and authentic account of what it means to live and deal with anxiety. the Australian journalist and writer who penned the bestselling I Quit Sugar, offers a beautiful and poignant account of her experience living with anxiety, and the strategies she puts in place to manage it effectively.
As sufferers of anxiety will know, it doesn’t take much to spark an anxious episode.
Perhaps a friend doesn’t get back to us when they said they would, or we’re anticipating the worst as we prepare for the annual family get-together.
“some days I can slow things down, piece apart the thoughts and break the cycle,” Wilson writes.
“But on others the force is too much and down I go into the abyss.”
Regardless of how it’s experienced, anxiety can be a potent force, and Wilson’s latest book encourages people to take an important first step in managing it: to accept that it’s a normal part of living. Anxiety is a part of our lives, it doesn’t define who we are, nor should it.
“After more than three decades of it coursing through my veins, anxiety is sometimes simply in my bones,” she admits.
the book is peppered with helpful strategies to help cope with anxious moments and episodes. the usual suspects are to be found: meditation, yoga, going for a walk, and so on.
Wilson also advises less wellknown tips such as getting shoes
fitted (the touch of someone attending to you is soothing), reading the thoughts of philosophers who dealt first-hand with depression and anxiety, and, yes, quit sugar.
Of course, that’s all easier said than done.
Having said that, Wilson implies an important message to those striving to cope with their anxiety: it’s not likely to go away on its own, you have to be proactive in managing it, otherwise it might just get worse. On the whole, First, We Make
The Beast Beautiful carries a positive, empowering message that calls on people who experience anxiety to get to know the condition, accepting that it’s a part of life, and using it as a means to let us see and appreciate the beauty of life.
For those who struggle with anxiety or depression, Wilson’s book is a welcome, supportive companion that offers straightforward, real insights into the challenges of living with the conditions.
It also provides practical and effective ways in which we can coexist peacefully with our struggles, without feeling that we’re anything less than the rich, complex and unique human beings we are.