Doesn’t it feel like the world has decided to become a permanent dumpster fire? If you watch the news for five minutes, you could see a range of exciting topics from fights at sporting events, to horrible weather disasters, to bridges falling down after being hit by cargo ships. No wonder our anxiety levels are at an all-time high. According to The Mental Health Foundation, the number of individuals reporting high anxiety has increased 22% in women and 18% in men. I get it. I’ve never been the calmest person and I’m constantly trying to find ways to deal with stress and anxiety. I want to share the following books because they helped me and perhaps they will help you as well.

One day, I happened upon this book as I was browsing in the New Nonfiction section. Like many of you, I too have anxious tendencies and I thought the premise sounded promising. Since so many of us now reportedly suffer from anxiety, why not put it to good use? With this book, the founder of the Center for Anxiety teaches us how to transform this weakness into a strength. The author offers nine ways to use anxiety in order to deal with situations and his goal is for us to be able to “reach our highest potential.” This book won’t help you get rid of the anxiety forever (unfortunately) but I thought the tools he offered had the potential to be helpful. Honestly, I’m not sure I would have hired Rosmarin to be my therapist, because he seemed a little intense. But I also think he knows what he’s talking about. If you are looking to turn your anxiety into a super power instead of letting it be your kryptonite, this is the book for you.

This book is an oldie but a goodie (it was published in 1992). Since you’ve made it this far into the post, perhaps you are like me and also struggle with perfectionism (which in turn ups the anxiety factor). This book has some great ideas to help you not stress out so much when things don’t go exactly the way you planned. I’ve read several books on this subject and this one might be my favorite. If you consider yourself a workaholic, a neat freak, an obsessive, or all of the above, you need to read this one because there is a better way to live. I liked the stories, although there were a few that I recognized myself in a little too much. Highly recommend if you think everything should be perfect all of the time (because it should, right? Sigh. I guess I’m still working on this…) 

Living through a worldwide pandemic is never an easy thing (ask me how!). The author starts with COVID and breaks down how our recovery is going. As a society, we battled to survive both the virus and our enforced isolation (some more successfully than others), and now we need to rebuild our reserves. So many people quit their jobs during The Great Resignation in 2021 because they were burned out and wanted to spend their time pursuing something they loved to do. If we don’t have resilience in the face of crisis and catastrophe, we will be lost in the waves of chaos. Eldredge is a teacher and counselor and I usually find his books to be helpful guides in the midst of the storm. If you are struggling in this area, see what Eldredge has to say about finding peace and staying strong.

Alrighty friends, I keep hoping that the world will relax and stop being so crazy, but so far without luck. If you want to find a way to still be happy and live your best life, perhaps one (or more) of these titles will be helpful.

Happy staying calm and finding peace…
:) Amanda