Transforming cultural perception and personal understanding of anxiety, Sarah Wilson treats the mental health condition as a powerful spiritual teacher to deepen lives. Upon discovery of the Chinese proverb that “to conquer a beast, you must first make it beautiful”, Wilson experienced a moment of enlightenment that would define her understanding of anxiety and equip her with a new coping strategy. This volume tracks Wilson’s quest to make peace with her lifetime companion, learning to see it as a road map, rather than an antagonist. With intensive focus and investigatory skills, Wilson examines 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 of her own experiences. Pulling at the thread of accepted definitions of anxiety, she unravels the notion that it is a difficult, dangerous disease that must be medicated into submission, and re-frames it as a state of yearning that will lead us closer to what really matters. Practical and poetic, wise and funny, this small volume has a big heart. Hardcover; 2018, Dey Street Books.

Size
- 320 pages
- Dimensions: 6”l x 1”w x 8”h