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

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Mindfulness and understanding helps, that isn’t ground-breaking news but Wilson’s story sure does highlight that very well. I have a huge problem with the cutting out of an entire food group, and THEN using it as an example of self-compassion. Note: if something has helped you with your own mental health understanding or recovery, feel free to submit your own review! The anxiety makes us reach for this something, but we don't know what we're reaching for and it hurts. There’s also a lot of name-dropping: the first sentence starts “The first time I met His Holiness The Dalai Lama…”!

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

One of the dear, dear things about getting older, is that it does eventually dawn on you that there is no guidebook. Sarah's latest book This One Wild and Precious Life is a soul's journey through the complexities of climate change, our disconnection, political fragmentation. Today has been a number 2 kind of day where I managed to read almost all of Wilson's First, We Make the Beast Beautiful (FWMtBB).

Having struggled with this concept in the past, (there was an article on a TV channel recently where two men spoke about their experiences and their six figure salaries) I wasn't a fan reading about Wilson's ability to drop possessions. However, given I'm in a pretty bad slump, it hasn't brought me out of it, nor has it submerged me further, I think I need to respect that sometimes things just "are. Whilst I’m sure many will resonate with her story, to me her life and experiences feel out of touch. It was a quick read thanks to two particularly long train journey’s I had over the week, but I’m not sure speed is a good reflection of my feelings towards the book.

First, We Make The Beast Beautiful - Booktopia First, We Make The Beast Beautiful - Booktopia

This is the act of “making the beast beautiful”, a departure from the usual positive-thinking literature, which encourages people to overcome adversity, rather than Wilson’s tactic of embracing it. I’ve put together this ace book club reading guideto help support these great discussions and get things flowing.I bump along, in fits and starts, on a perpetual path to finding better ways for me and my mate, Anxiety, to get around. never really defining what “anxiety” is, claiming that maladaptive coping strategies are actually okay (my bulimia helps me manage my anxiety! Wilson is very vague about her actual practice at this time regarding medication, but does at many times throughout the book discuss going off meds with no medical oversight, and describes how she lives better unmedicated. One thing I generally like about this genre is hearing new perspectives and understanding that all of our journeys are the same, but very different. It will encourage the myriad sufferers of the world’s most common mental illness to feel not just better about their condition, but delighted by the possibilities it offers for a richer, fuller life.

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson - Waterstones First, We Make the Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson - Waterstones

This was a common theme with phrases like "get rid of your car" (90) and the stressing of meditation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.This is another thing that I am a firm follower in, and reading it will hopefully make me choose my own plans, no matter how small they are. Sarah lives minimally, rides a hand-built bike and is known for travelling the world for eight years with one bag. It feels like falling into a beanbag and receiving a big bear hug from a friend to finally hear someone who gets it, and who can honestly, without shame, say “I know. I read it much more as a memoir with some recommendations for things that MIGHT help others than as a self-help book. It is NOT a recipe for "fixing" anxiety and it's NOT a cure-all (actually, it's not a cure-anything).