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First, We Make the Beast Beautiful
First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety | Sarah Wilson
Sarah Wilson - bestselling author and entrepreneur, intrepid solver of problems and investigator of how to live a better life - has helped over 650,000 people across the world to quit sugar. She has also been an anxiety sufferer her whole life. In her new book, she 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 even the Dalai Lama, processing all she learns through the prism her own experiences. Sarah pulls at the thread of accepted definitions of anxiety, and unravels the notion that it is a difficult, dangerous disease that must be medicated into submission. Ultimately, she re-frames anxiety as a spiritual quest rather than a burdensome affliction, a state of yearning that will lead us closer to what really matters. Practical and poetic, wise and funny, this is a small book with a big heart. 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.
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mspixieears
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Mehso-so

A good mate gave this to me as a present, and this year I‘m trying to prioritise reading books received as gifts. 🥰

It isn‘t something I would‘ve picked for myself but was one of those reads that I started to absorb more of as I recovered while in hospital a few months ago. It grew on me!

(I hate giving lukewarm book reviews/summaries, but being able to articulate why is important! and the Litsy community is very welcoming that way 💜)

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mspixieears

Freud believed anxiety attunes us not just to external threats (charging rhinos, dodgy people in alleyways, off milk) but to internal threats and the need for growth. The discomfort Brown mentions brings this growth perhaps. Anxiety is a sign we need to move and change our lives.

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Twocougs
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Pickpick

Part memoir, part self help with anxiety. I adore Sarah Wilson.

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BeeMagical
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Pickpick

Book 45👂🏻🎵 - 3.5⭐️
I did overall like this book! I found some of her story‘s and feelings with anxiety relatable and she speaks about it so easily.
I found the chapter endings a little abrupt but it may have just been how it was read.
Overall she makes you feel normal to be a human, an adult, with anxiety🤍

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AloraGrey
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Pickpick

I am almost done this one and I LOVE it! Absolutely love it. It's perfect for anyone struggling with anxiety!

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lucifare
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Panpan

I hated reading this. I appreciate her openness and honesty with her struggles with mental health, but I found myself mostly agitated, resentful and irritated with her. I finished the book only out of stubbornness but I really would not recommend this to anyone who might be on the edge with their mental health. It‘s set me off into a very severe depression cycle.

CuriousG I tried to read this one and bailed because it was triggering me too 3y
9 likes1 comment
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SkeletonKey
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Couldn‘t sleep due to anxiety last night so I started listening to a book about anxiety. 😅

#anxiety #help

wanderinglynn I love the cover. ❤️🐙 4y
34 likes2 comments
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LacklustreRogue
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Pickpick

Lile settling in for a good chat with a friend about life with anxiety and mental illness, with a few thoughts and tips scattered throughout

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SolitaryBookLover
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About to begin this lovely book. Delve into the depths of my anxiety.

5 likes1 stack add
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JGadz11
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Right book at the right time.💝

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Ddzmini
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Isn‘t this cover beautiful... wanted to get the book for that alone but I choose to get a different book (Tbp) 😝

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LapReader
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Pickpick

#7coversin7days Thanks to those who tagged me @Rissreads Have you been tagged yet? Post a cover you love each day for 7 days and tag a friend. No explanation needed.

Cathythoughts Lovely cover 5y
Rissreads Yes I have been tagged and t thanks for the reminder, I've forgotten to do it the last few days! This cover is also on my list! 😂 5y
Davor That's a beautiful cover 5y
NeedsMoreBooks @LapReader This is one of my favorite covers! Glad you are playing along! (edited) 5y
56 likes1 stack add5 comments
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Sbk89
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Love this ❤️

LoveToReadLiveToRead This sounds like an interesting book. What do you think about it so far? 5y
Sbk89 @LoveToReadLiveToRead I suffer from anxiety and depression, and I read all kinds of stuff on the matter. I got to say it‘s one of the best I‘ve read, because it‘s so raw, honest, and down to earth. I absolutely loved it. It truly made me feel beautiful. 5y
LoveToReadLiveToRead @Sbk89 I‘ve bought it now, will give it a try. I struggle with anxiety too and have been really bad recently so hopefully it will help. Hope you‘re doing well x (edited) 5y
Sbk89 @LoveToReadLiveToRead nice! Please let me know what you think! I hope you get well too 🙏🏼🌸 (edited) 5y
3 likes4 comments
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Sbk89
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I love you Max.
#RIP

Suet624 Oh gosh. Heart officially broken. 5y
KirstieE Sorry to hear of your loss. Dogs are truely blessings. Hope you recover soon ❤️ 5y
5 likes2 comments
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Sbk89
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I can relate to this.

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Sbk89
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“Humans will have to survive by being the inventors of their own nature.
They‘ll have to improvise, inventing their own furs and manufacturing contraptions with speed.
And they‘ll have to remain restless.”

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Madison91
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Panpan

The only good thing about this book is the beautiful cover.

BooknerdsLife Oh no! That sounds bad! 5y
4 likes1 comment
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Allietaylor16
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It‘s the perfect weather to read and drink coffee outside!

DrexEdit That is a really beautiful book! 😊📚 5y
35 likes1 comment
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Keeweejenn
Pickpick

Amah-zing highly recommend

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Keeweejenn
Pickpick

Amah-zing highly recommend

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The_Old_Astronomer
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Found this on reddit. Reminder to everyone out there that you are not your thoughts. #anxiety #mentalhealth #depression

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KathrynElise
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💜💜🌈🦄💜💜

#SpringIntoReading #PurpleBooks #WWUD

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Pretty 💜💜💜 5y
vkois88 Beautiful edition of Madame Bovary 5y
KathrynElise @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks thanks! 😁 @vkois88 I absolutely love this one (and the rest of my slowly-growing collection of penguin cloth bound classics). So pretty 😍 5y
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vkois88 I want to collect them too, I just haven't gotten started yet! 5y
KathrynElise @vkois88 haha just make sure you save up first.. Turns out, it‘s an expensive hobby! 🙈 5y
vkois88 Lol another reason to wait 😂😂😂 5y
KathrynElise @vkois88 definitely 😂😂 5y
8 likes7 comments
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The_Old_Astronomer
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I love this quote I found

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tlmorgan
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Such a pretty cover! Love birthday books!

6 likes1 stack add
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NeedsMoreBooks
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Pickpick

I picked this on a recommendation. It deals with the author‘s journey on dealing with her anxiety and her auto immune disease. It provides causes and some doable suggestions on conquering anxiety. Some of these suggestions can be implemented even if you are not anxious. I liked it but I am not a very anxious person. Someone who has anxiety will be a better judge of this book. However the overall ideas and solutions were excellent. And, octopus!

DoonTheGoon 💙🐙😍 5y
20 likes2 comments
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farrahkohn

I stumbled upon this at my favorite local bookseller here in Minneapolis, Magers & Quinn. I was there to purchase “The Noonday Demon” but this caught my eye and I left with three books, as often happens in bookstores. More research/reading toward my memoir writing!

16 likes1 stack add
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Nitpickyabouttrains
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Mehso-so

A book about anxiety. The author shares things that work for her and gives advice. As someone with anxiety, I felt some of it was generalized a bit too much. But it was interesting to read if taken as a personal story and not overall advice for everyone.

22 likes1 stack add
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Kelly
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My car library.

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Lea
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Mehso-so

This book has good nuggets that I underlined and starred. There are things I could relate to that made me think “yes!” Maybe about 50-75 pages of useful anxiety info.
There‘s also a lot of junk. A LOT. She tells you often to get off sugar - and check out her books and program to help you, which seems disingenuous at best, slimy at worst. I also found her really unlikeable, making the book harder to get through. More of a memoir. #readwomen

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JennyM
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#OctoberXFiles

My new audio is amazing, but anxiety #demons are not.

Cinfhen Anxiety demons are hell but this imagery is strikingly soothing and really beautiful 5y
Robothugs I agree with @Cinfhen 5y
BooknerdsLife I've bought this book for my daughter too & hope it helps 💙 5y
69 likes3 comments
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emtobiasz
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Bailedbailed

I really wanted to like this (that cover! that title!) but it just isn‘t working for me. I need more science/psychology/research to back up her ideas, instead of the self-help tone of the book. I liked hearing her own personal experiences, but instead of presenting them like a memoir, she uses them to make blanket statements about anxiety. Like that everyone with anxiety has her type-A, high-achieving personality. Back to the library it goes.

Sace Hate to hear you had a not great reading experience. I'm with you, that cover is gorgeous! 5y
Notafraidofwords I bailed too. For this exact reason! 5y
emtobiasz @Notafraidofwords glad I‘m not alone! I hate bailing on books, but I‘m trying to be better at it. 5y
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MoniqueChristine This is good to know as I almost bought this (for the same reasons, great title and cover) 5y
SilversReviews What bread is that in the photo? 5y
emtobiasz @SilversReviews banana bread! I make mine with chocolate chips instead of nuts 5y
SilversReviews @emtobiasz Yum. I made a banana bread today too. 😍 5y
TieDyeDude Okay, good. I was drawn to the cover, but I haven't seen any good reviews of it. I think I'll stay away 5y
60 likes8 comments
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Lizstarks

“I‘d add that, in such instances, we‘d love everyone (someone?) to see that we absolutely do not have our shit together. And to come and tell us they‘ve got this one. Even for five minutes. The more anxious we are, the more we‘d really love someone to come and take the load off us and help us cope for a bit.” 😔yep

1 like1 stack add
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BooksForEmpathy
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Smitten Kitchen‘s Deb Perelman put up a three ingredient cacio e pepe and we added bacon and it was delicious!

More importantly, as someone who struggles with, and helps others through, anxiety, this book was intriguing to me. The cover is spectacular. And the, title? OMG I love it. We will see how it goes!

cariashley I ❤️ smitten kitchen ☺️ 6y
Skygoddess1 I will have to check this out. 6y
92 likes6 stack adds2 comments
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Melmar
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Even though, Finn looks like he is doubtful about this book, I have to say I‘m really enjoying it. I feel like this is going to be a book I recommend to anyone who talks to me about any fear, stress, anxiety in their life. #dogsoflitsy #recommendsday

23 likes2 stack adds
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CuriousG
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Read a few quick pages to get in the right headspace before I leave for my Mental Health 1st Aid training course today - going to be a very intense two days!

8 likes1 stack add
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wirewrappedlily
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We officially became “stressed” from 1950, when the term was invented by an Austrian-Canadian physician who worked tirelessly to popularize the term with a one-person campaign to get the word into dictionaries around the world. An etiology I just love. #dontweall?

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CuriousG
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So excited to get started on this one! It was at the top of the (gigantic) #tbr

SomedayAlmost Interesting. Lovely cover. (edited) 6y
Kalalalatja Great cover! 6y
CuriousG @SomedayAlmost @Kalalalatja That's what I thought - it is a gorgeous cover. I'm almost scared to pick it up because I don't want fingerprints on it. Lol 6y
12 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Krisjericho
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Mehso-so

The author writes candidly, but not always well. I found that she seems to think that her experiences with anxiety are the same as anyone with anxiety, and it just isn‘t true. There were parts that resonated and parts that made me cringe because of her name-dropping and clueless privilege. I‘m glad there is honesty about anxiety, and I hope that more people will contribute so that there are more diverse voices than this.

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sunshine_librarian
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Spent some time #audiogardening today and a nice surprise landed on my tomato cage!

SledgeReader Beautiful!! 6y
9 likes1 comment
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sunshine_librarian
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I'm adding several audiobooks to itunes tonight and the tagged book is really sparking my curiosity! I tried to circle my typical audiobook tasks, but cooking and walking are my favorites. @RealLifeReading

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TheBee
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Perfect Friday afternoon

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ElleSkel
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Pickpick

I really enjoyed the flow of this book. Short sections of information provided tools to helping control the beast making this a far less boring read than it had the potential to be. If I had one criticism it is that the author has had many experiences the average person will probably not and this made it a little less relatable than anticipated despite its conversational style. But, it does show that anxiety can affect anyone.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

kstadt929 Love your mug!!! 6y
ElleSkel Thanks @kstadt929 !! It is new 😀 6y
56 likes1 stack add2 comments
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underground_bks
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Pickpick

Reading this book is like having the best, deepest, most therapeutic and raucous and tearful and cathartic conversation with a friend and then the feeling afterward, maybe at 4 in the morning, when you‘re resting together in the peace of laying all your cards on the table and knowing and being known. This is a book you‘ll want to hug about a 100 times, then launch out into the world (or stay at home!) with your beautiful beast beside you.

hermyknee What a phenomenal review! I‘m definitely going to try to get my hands on this book! 6y
underground_bks @hermyknee Thank you so much! I originally wrote like 4x this much, so I‘ve become thankful for Litsy‘s character limit lol! I‘m so excited for everyone to read this book! ❤️❤️❤️ 6y
14 likes6 stack adds2 comments
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HillsAndHamletsBookshop
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Immediately drawn in by Wilson's casual writing style on a difficult topic. It's like we're hanging out on the porch chatting about life and anxiety and the tricks she's learned. While I would consider myself mildly afflicted with anxiety, many people close to me are more so, and this is really helpful.

FountainBookstore Hi! You were at #EUREKAsiba, right? I'm Kelly Justice. I do all the Twitter, 90% of the Facebook and Litsy, and 10% of our Instagram. Thanks for the follow! 6y
FountainBookstore Hm. I have chronic anxiety and severe panic attacks. I should check this out? Will it make me feel worse or batter? This is the part where you say, "Dammit, Jim! I'm a bookseller, not a doctor!" 6y
HillsAndHamletsBookshop Hi Kelly! Yes, we were at EurekaSiba, this is Josh. My wife Megan and I (short nerdy couple, glasses, curly hair) connected with you there and at Wi13. Loved your talk. We've been binging SharkTank bc of you this week. 🤓🦈 6y
See All 7 Comments
HillsAndHamletsBookshop We co-own two stores. I post primarily as @HillsAndHamletsBookshop on here, Facebook, and instagram. Megan primarily as @underground_bks -- her instagram is probably our strongest though the biggest following is still Facebook. 6y
HillsAndHamletsBookshop And oh, yes, the book! Bookselling aside, just speaking as a human here, I think this is a really great book for the chronically anxious, and reading it is a breeze. She writes it in little 1-3 page memoir-essay-science-vignettes that are just great, and kind of genre-bending. I really do recommend it. 6y
underground_bks @FountainBookstore I‘m starting this book this evening ☺️ 6y
FountainBookstore Shark Tank! Shark Tank! Putting this on my tbr.. 6y
14 likes7 comments
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SolitaryBookLover
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Such a stunning cover! Looking forward to reading this beauty

4 likes1 stack add
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TheWellAccompaniedBook
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I don‘t suffer from anxiety, but I know several who do. Maybe I‘ll be a better listener for them if I read this perspective. Plus, the cover is gorgeous.

Laura317 I, as well as many others, live with anxiety. While mine is well controlled, I find others have a much harder time. Stacked. 6y
TheWellAccompaniedBook @Laura317 I‘m so much more aware of how common it is than I ever have been before. I just wish the social conversation around it was stronger and more accepting so anyone who lives with it feels free enough to talk about it. 6y
TrishB My daughter does. I‘ll have a look at this! 6y
Dragon 🐙❤️ 6y
52 likes7 stack adds4 comments
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MaddHatterBooks

Live the better life

2 likes1 stack add