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walkitoutAuthor not named here, because I’ve got some real concerns about her mental health and I just don’t need to feel guilty about tipping her over the edge or other outcomes that might be personally worse for me. I mean, the road rage description. If you know the author, please don’t show this to the author.
I loved _The Worry Trick_. I firmly believe that negative emotions are important motivators to get us to do difficult things. So I really expected this book to align with those ideas and expand upon them in ways that would be interesting and useful. This book did not do that. The author defined anxiety as a body centered set of feelings, and worry as motivated planning. This erases all the beautiful, expansive, choice enhancing territory of _The Worry Trick_. Further, the author firmly believes that anxiety is Good. Like, not just occasionally we might need it to get us over a hump, but Good like, Live Your Life This Way. It’s like a Meritocratic version of Saved by Works. If you think about the future, and you feel it, you will collect information, plan and take difficult actions and have a good (cringe) outcome. If you _don’t_ have anxiety, you won’t do those things, bad things will happen to you and it will be your fault. She’s explicit about one side of this coin; the other side of the coin is implied fiercely, at least in the first half-ish of the book. I have no idea where she goes after the first half-ish because I DNFed it.
I specifically DNF’d this book NOT because of its morally reprehensible thesis, but rather because of citational dishonesty (noted in a liveblog earlier in this blog) and ridiculous illustrative examples (the bear encounter, and the idea that a short story writer could ever experience proportional improvement in the story by the hour). Also, it became impossible to believe that maybe she didn’t _really_ mean it about the basic thesis.
If you have anxiety, panic attacks, intrusive worries, etc., I strongly encourage you to read _The Worry Trick_. And also, to find a friend, peer or pastoral counselor, or therapist to help you work through why you are having this chronic pain, and help you evolve how you live your life to one that is less anxious and more rewarding. Definitely skip this book, tho.
I loved _The Worry Trick_. I firmly believe that negative emotions are important motivators to get us to do difficult things. So I really expected this book to align with those ideas and expand upon them in ways that would be interesting and useful. This book did not do that. The author defined anxiety as a body centered set of feelings, and worry as motivated planning. This erases all the beautiful, expansive, choice enhancing territory of _The Worry Trick_. Further, the author firmly believes that anxiety is Good. Like, not just occasionally we might need it to get us over a hump, but Good like, Live Your Life This Way. It’s like a Meritocratic version of Saved by Works. If you think about the future, and you feel it, you will collect information, plan and take difficult actions and have a good (cringe) outcome. If you _don’t_ have anxiety, you won’t do those things, bad things will happen to you and it will be your fault. She’s explicit about one side of this coin; the other side of the coin is implied fiercely, at least in the first half-ish of the book. I have no idea where she goes after the first half-ish because I DNFed it.
I specifically DNF’d this book NOT because of its morally reprehensible thesis, but rather because of citational dishonesty (noted in a liveblog earlier in this blog) and ridiculous illustrative examples (the bear encounter, and the idea that a short story writer could ever experience proportional improvement in the story by the hour). Also, it became impossible to believe that maybe she didn’t _really_ mean it about the basic thesis.
If you have anxiety, panic attacks, intrusive worries, etc., I strongly encourage you to read _The Worry Trick_. And also, to find a friend, peer or pastoral counselor, or therapist to help you work through why you are having this chronic pain, and help you evolve how you live your life to one that is less anxious and more rewarding. Definitely skip this book, tho.