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

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At thirty-five I was also suicidal for the second time in my life. I was unable to leave the house or go to work for nine months. Everything unraveled again. The name dropping was so frustrating. Oprah, Brene Brown, Gabrielle Bernstein etc get to have their names in the book, but then she refers to "some guy" who uses the analogy of walking on custard. His name is Neil Hughes, he has a lovely TED talk and he wrote a book called "Walking on Custard and the meaning of life: a Guide for Anxious Humans". Surely she could have included that? In terms of the effectiveness of this one, I think it will come down to what you’re looking for; a traditional self-help book with lots of takeaways is not what you’ll find here. Instead, you’ll get a train-of-thought narrative that’s high on helping you feel less alone, but low on structure and “sink-your-teeth-into” advice. Not everyone will punch a hole in the wall at work, like Wilson did in an anxious "flip out" in her Masterchef trailer.

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. But for Wilson, who has taken anti-anxiety medication in the past, there's something else driving her anxiety, something deeper that warrants uncoiling. Here’s a full reading listof great anxiety books by mindful types, which I hope many of you will enjoy and find useful. First, we make the beast beautifulwas published on February 28th, 2017 (Pan Macmillan Australia) and April 24, 2018 (US, Harper Collins) and is now published worldwide, in South Korean, Lithuanian and French. Where to buy the book

Also, similar to the name-dropping, were the mentions of people such as Lena Dunham. This is something I didn't appreciate. 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. Miss Gee Bees was the teen section of the now defunct Grace Bros. department store behemoth, should you be too young to know. You can also get it on Kindle hereand other ebooks hereand for Audio (I read the book myself), you can buy it here. Sarah blogs on philosophy, anxiety, minimalism, toxin-free living and anti-consumerism at sarahwilson.com, lives in Sydney, rides a bike everywhere, is a compulsive hiker and is eternally curious.

I leave feeling deflated and anxious. I didn’t exactly have a pearly insight for my column. But a few days later I was defending his seemingly flaccid response to my close mate Ragni and I realized what His Holiness had done.I have read many many books on related subjects the last ten years, and I find most have a tiresome "do these 10 simple things and your anxiety will be gone!!! :D :D :D" tone. That tone pisses me off. Nothing is easy with anxiety; nothing is straightforward or simple. I was worried this book would be more of that. In first, we make the beast beautiful, Sarah directs her intense focus and fierce investigatory skills onto this lifetime companion of hers, looking at the triggers and treatments, the fashions and fads. She reads widely and interviews fellow sufferers, mental health experts, philosophers, and the Dalai Lama, processing all she learns through the prism of her own experiences.