Reading as Therapy for Anxiety

This summer I realized that I have a mild anxiety disorder.  As I have been working through ways to cope I have taken up reading some self help books. I have often struggled with self help books in the past perceiving them as how to manuals in disguise. One of my favorite non horror podcasts is By the Book where the hosts live out self help books literally and often delve into the problematic points on how these books often are tainted by elitism and sexism. 

Despite some of my criticism of self help books I have found that taking up some critical and reflective reading has really helped me work through some of my own coping mechanisms.

The first book I read was Forest Bathing. I purchased a Go Love Yourself Box on a clearance sale that featured this book. I do find that the books stress that getting into nature more really resonates for me. I often feel a lot calmer when I am outside.  The book even discusses studies that cite that being in nature more does decrease anxiety. However my problematic point with this is that while being in nature is calming for me it should not replace the need to see a counselor and get on medication.

This book also discusses how the scent of trees can be therapeutic as well and goes into detail on the use of aromatherapy. This is a point that often gives me pause. Again, aromatherapy should never be used in place of any kind of medication that is prescribed by a MD. Also for people with allergies sometimes the scent of nature can be problematic so I felt uncomfortable with this being stressed. However I would say that I do use aromatherapy as more of a meditative practice and that fragrance can provide a source of calm for me.

The photography in this book is gorgeous and also has a calming effect. However I felt the biggest takeaway I got from this book was to get outside more and to make a priority of getting away from the fast paced noisy city. As someone who has tried a variety of meditative techniques I found it to be very basic. 

While I do have my criticisms of this book it was a gentle reminder to make a priority of being outside more often. Nature has a calming effect on my soul.

Then I read The Four Agreements because the counselor that I have been working with highly recommended it. I just could not finish it. I really wanted to love this book. I will say that it was well written and the author had an engaging style. However  I struggled to keep reading when there was the claim that we can cause someone to get cancer by merely suggesting it with our words. While i do agree that the way we formulate words is powerful on how we perceive ourselves and the world I do have to say that the language of magic really put me off. I do like a heavy dose of magic in my fiction but when I read non fiction I need more facts and evidence. found myself laughing that the summary of the book on the book flap was actually what I needed to get out of the book, not the book itself. I also have to give a big shout out to the By the Book Podcast for their commentary on this book being more helpful than taking time on my own to read the whole thing.

 Braving the Wilderness  may very well have been my favorite book I've read so far. As a part of the anxiety that I experience sometimes manifests itself for me in social situations, I found that the way that it discussed connections with others to provide a lot of aha moments for the type of people and situations that I know that I truly need.

This was exactly the type of book that I needed to read. This was one of those books for me that provided me a language for a lot of things that I have often felt about community. One of my favorite quotes in the book is that "True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and finding sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn't require you to change who you are it requires you to be who you are." But there are seriously so many excellent quotes in there and so many wonderful things to ponder. 

I also loved the level of authenticity that this book encourages people to embrace while still honoring the need for humans to be connected to other people. The discussion on belonging that this author had also really resonated with me as well. Belonging is being somewhere where you want to be and they want you. Fitting in is being somewhere you want to be but they don't care one way or another. I can't ever fully explain why I prefer some people over others because the minute I say why I like someone for a certain reason there will be the question as to why I did not like another person who exhibits similar characteristics nearly as much. However the concepts of belonging versus fitting in may very come into play if I am thinking of the embracing of the authentic self.

I am not feeling as critical of this book as I have been of some of the other self help books that I have recently reviewed. It may very well be a timing issue on my part as well as I was seeking something that was a little more comforting that spoke to my spirit at the point in time that I picked it up. However because I loved the book so much I immediately ordered copies of some of her other books, wondering if they may be as helpful for me as this one was. 

I do need to acknowledge that I read these books differently than I read my novels. The character that I am paying attention to when I read self help books is myself.  While I am critical of what I am reading I am seeking tools to help with self transformation. Ultimately transformation comes from what I practice when I put my books down, however books are a great starting point to provide me the language and the ideas that I need as I journey forward to practice a life where I honor my own need for peace and health.