Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Reading Your Fears Away

by Haystack Creatives LLC

There will come a time that no matter how hard we try to stay calm and believe that everything will be fine, our worries and fears will take over our thoughts and eventually will
take over us. For three years, I have been experiencing panic attacks due to stress and anxiety. I lost the appetite to eat and become very conscious with my diet, I always misinterpret and fear chest pains or palpitations, and befriended the E.R. triage nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital in downtown L.A. because of my frequent visits. My anxiety took over me and I stopped working. I was struggling to pay my bills and I became anti-social. I declined invitations, did not want to drive long distances, and avoided gatherings. Things got worse, and I started experiencing paranoia.

Because my friends insisted, I scheduled an appointment with a psychologist and started having therapy. After months of struggle and series of counseling, my therapist has successfully helped me get over my fears and take control of my life again. Surprisingly, one of the techniques that my therapist has recommended is to read motivational books. She recommended titles of books that I can relate to and source out inspiration to change the course of my life and bring back the happier me. Reading the books helped a lot, and it made me realize that everything is easy if we choose to make it easy.

The pandemic took a heavy toll to many of us. Many lost their jobs, a lot lost their loved ones, and some lost their businesses, and homes. The ordeal is too stressful for anyone, and it has caused a great effect to our mental health. Hence, I encourage the readers to give these books a chance to help ease their minds, take away their worries and fears, and motivate them to take control of their lives. As it helped me get through the dark ages of my life, I hope these books will do the same to anyone who will read them.

1. THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A F*CK BY MARK MANSON

 

New York blogger, Mark Manson, brilliantly provide tips and advice his readers how to not let your fears and others’ opinion stop you from reaching your goals. Mark Manson includes great humor in this book that anyone can easily relate to and make us realize how much we focus on regretting our mistakes instead of learning valuable lessons from them.

2. THE SELF-CARE PROJECT BY JAYNE HARDY

 

This book is a bible to many of us who are struggling how to balance the things in our lives. Jayne Hardy, founder and CEO of mental health awareness enterprise, The Blurt Foundation, wrote on this book how important it is to take care and value ourselves more than anything by planning out a personalized strategy of looking after one’s self. Hardy explains that it is not being selfish because it should be our primary duty to take care of ourselves first to be able to help more people. It is vital that sometimes we need to disconnect to the world to connect with our own selves.

3. GLORIOUS ROCK BOTTOM BY BRYONY GORDON

Bryony Gordon shares in this book her personal life story and how she hit rock bottom. However, instead of staying at the bottom, she came to an abrupt realization and worked hard to take back her life and save herself from substance overdoes and death. Gordon opens up on her never-ending relationship with drugs and alcohol and how she was wasting her life away. Her traumatic experience of being alone made her conclude that only her can save herself. This book is highly recommended to anyone who hides their worries and takes comfort in alcohol and drugs; also, to those who are highly dependent on others. This book is so powerful in motivating anyone to stand up for themselves.

4. NOTES ON A NERVOUS PLANET BY MATT HAIG

This book is a collection of motivational pieces on how to be happy. The author, Matt Haig, makes us understand how the current world is so fast in setting standards for anything through social media, technology, aggressive marketing, and globalization that would make us feel inferior. However, with the tips from this book, we shall be able to help ourselves make the right choice. After all, being happy is a choice…your choice! So, when things become too much to take, we can always step back and remind ourselves the reasons for our goals, and not what the society demands of us.

 

Latest Blogs

---