Photo Credit: Béatrice Lajous
Anxiety, it’s a bitch. A ball ache. A fucking pain in the arse. Okay, you get the picture.
The point is, anxiety can control your life, and it often feels like there’s no way out of this panic-stricken mentality. But, there can be. Everyone has something that will work for them, whether it’s medication or therapy or exercise, and reading is a great way to discover what treatments are out there. Plus, reading about other people’s anxiety can be a comfort- you’re not alone, and you’re not fucking crazy. Okay, medically speaking you might be, but so are a lot of people. Below are some books that helped me out of my darkest, most anxiety riddled times…
Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig
This book focuses on depression and anxiety, offering a dark but humorous take on life with mental health issues. If you want a book that’ll make you belly-laugh, and then by the next sentence have you ugly-crying, then this is it.
There’s a quote that has stayed with me: “how to feel time: write”. “Feeling time” isn’t an expression we hear often, but it resonated. Anxiety is constantly pushing you. Pushing you against the clock, making you feel like you’re constantly out of time. So much so, that you forget to “feel time”. To be a part of time. To be present. Matt Haig is right, the only thing that makes me feel in the moment is writing. It doesn’t matter if I’m writing as a form of escapism, or to understand the past, the act itself is inherently present and self-reflective.
The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck by Sarah Knight
Anxiety makes us give so many fucks. Seriously. I’m not much of a fuck-giver by nature, but this darn mental illness makes me give them out like they’re candy. This book is a handy guide on how to give less fucks, and ration the ones you do give better. Plus she swears all the time, which, if you couldn’t already tell, I’m quite a big fan of.
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
The queen of doing her thing and not letting other’s change her mind. She reminded me that even the women you admire most in this world are fighting with their own demons. “Saying ‘yes’ doesn’t mean I don’t know how to say no, and saying ‘please’ doesn’t mean I am waiting for permission” is a quote I’ve definitely stolen and applied to every-day life. Having anxiety doesn’t make you soft or weak, in fact it makes you the opposite. Anyone who gets up in the morning despite a constant stream of “what if this awful awful thing happens” swirling around their mind is pretty bloody bad ass in my book (excuse the pun).
Let us know what books have helped you cope, and we’ll be sure to check them out!
Words by Chloe Laws
