First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety

by Sarah Wilson

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Author: Sarah Wilson

Publisher: Dey Street Books

Hardcover:
ISBN 10: 0062836781
ISBN 13: 978-0062836786

New York Times Bestseller

"Probably the best book on living with anxiety that I’ve ever read.” – Mark Manson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

The Chinese believe that before you can conquer a beast, you must first make it beautiful.

Sarah Wilson first came across this Chinese proverb in psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison's memoir An Unquiet Mind, and it became the key to understanding her own lifelong struggle with anxiety. Wilson, bestselling author, journalist, and entrepreneur has helped over 1.5 million people worldwide to live better, healthier lives through her I Quit Sugar books and program. And all along, she has been managing chronic anxiety.

In First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, Wilson directs her intense focus and fierce investigating skills onto her lifetime companion, 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 of her own experiences.

Wilson offers readers comfort, humor, companionship, and practical tips for living with the Beast:

Cultivate a "gratitude ritual." You can't be grateful and anxious at the same time.
Eat to curb anxiety. Real food is your best friend.
Just breathe. Embrace the healing power of meditation.
Make your bed. Every day. Simple outer order creates inner calm.
Study fellow fretters to know thyself. Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. all struggled with anxiety.
Actively practice missing out. Forget FOMO, curl up on the couch, and order takeout.

Practical and poetic, wise and funny, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful is a small book with a big heart. It will encourage the myriad souls who dance with this condition to embrace it as a part of who they are, and to explore the possibilities it offers for a richer, fuller life.

Review

“Probably the best book on living with anxiety that I’ve ever read, and I have (unfortunately) read many. Sarah is full of expert advice while remaining grounded and incredibly human. Her vulnerability is her strength. And after reading, it will hopefully be yours too.” (Mark Manson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck)

“A witty, well-researched, and often insightful book about negotiating a new relationship to anxiety.” (Andrew Solomon, New York Times Bestselling author of Far From the Tree)

“Sarah’s life mission is to help us all feel less lonely in our pain. These pages are filled with authenticity and clear direction for how to return to our spiritual truth.” (Gabrielle Bernstein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of May Cause Miracles)

“A tremendously entertaining, wise, and effective book on how to walk through anxiety and reclaim life. Sarah’s battle and triumph over anxiety inspires and gives solutions that work. First, We Make the Beast Beautiful resides at the intersection of science and lived-experience. I know of nothing in the same league.” (Xavier Amador, Ph.D., psychologist and founder of the LEAP Institute)

“An affecting memoir of coping with anxiety over a busy lifetime. […] Those who endure anxiety will find Wilson’s thoughtful, often funny self-analysis to be just the right companion and affirmation.” (Kirkus)

“Uplifting, earnest […] practical, and filled with delightful asides, this book will appeal to anxiety-prone readers, who will find much to calm them in these pages.” (Publishers Weekly)

About the Author

Sarah Wilson is author of the New York Times bestsellers First, We Make the Beast Beautiful and I Quit Sugar. She is the founder of IQuitSugar.com, an 8-week program that has been completed by 1.5 million people in 133 countries. A former news journalist and editor for Australian Cosmopolitan, she blogs on philosophy, anxiety, minimalism, toxin-free living, and anti-consumerism at sarahwilson.com. She lives in Sydney, Australia, rides a bike everywhere, is a compulsive hiker, and is eternally curious.

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First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety