30 Days 30 Ways to Overcome Anxiety

by Bev Aisbett

From Australia's bestselling anxiety expert, Bev Aisbett, comes a proven and practical workbook to help people manage their anxiety, with simple daily strategies for work and for home. A clear, practical day-by-day workbook, written by experienced counsellor and bestselling author of the classic national bestseller about anxiety, Living with IT, Bev Aisbett, to help people control their anxiety. Based on many of the exercises Bev has been teaching and writing about for the past twenty years, the book provides clear, simple daily building blocks to help people manage their anxiety and assist in recovery. Designed to be carried in handbags or backpacks as a daily companion, this is a highly approachable, concise, practical, simple and above all proven method of overcoming anxiety.Bev Aisbett is Australia’s leading author in books around managing anxiety. In 1993, after recovering from severe anxiety and depression herself, Bev turned to her artistic talents to create the first of her ground-breaking illustrated self-help books Living with IT- A Survivor's Guide to Panic Attacks, which rapidly became a national bestseller, with over 200,000 copies sold. In 2013, HarperCollins published the fully revised and updated 20th anniversary edition of this classic book.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Mental Health, Audiobook, Psychology

224 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2018

About the author

In 1991 Bev Aisbett launched a full–time freelance career in cartooning and illustration. Around this time, Bev experienced an ordeal commonly known as anxiety disorder. Out of this experience she developed the character "IT" which led to the successful publication of Living With IT, Living IT Up and Letting IT Go. Bev has also published "Get Real, dealing with body image and eating disorders" and in 2000 the successful "Taming the Black Dog: A guide to depression."

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative overview of all the pitfalls and perils when dealing with chronic or pervasive anxiety. Easy enough to read through. Using the book for 30 days of changing the way you look at and think about anxiety requires a little more effort, but I'm sure it's well worth it. I won this book from Harper Collins Publishing.

[Asiuol K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anxiety plagues millions of the population, and there are thousands, if not millions, of books out there helping those with the ailment. 30 Days: 30 Ways to Overcome Anxiety by Bev Aisbett is just one of them, and I enjoyed reading it. The simple passages offer advice that seems so obvious I can’t believe I haven’t used them before.

Aisbett has written an easy book, which is both good and bad. It doesn’t feel like there’s enough detail for people who suffer from severe anxiety. In fact, the information is quite simple and is the same advice I have heard from many other places. Did you know diet impacts the way you live and that your attitude impacts the world around you? Amazing. I know. To be fair, there are only so many ways you can talk about living with anxiety.

There was one lesson, however, which I think I will use in the future. We have all heard about our inner child and Aisbett talks about how you have to address this. Not only is it a way to embrace your uniqueness, but it forces you to be an adult. No one else will take responsibility of your life. It’s all up to you, and you have to think of that inner child. Would you let them stay up until 4 in the morning watching Youtube videos? I don’t think so. Unfortunately, that means you have to parent yourself sometimes.

Another important message that Aisbett brings up is that anxiety isn’t the worst thing in the world. I have always felt like the more I stress, the more I think about anxiety, and the worse it gets. Aisbett has provided hints on how to acknowledge your anxiety without it getting the best of you. Besides, experiencing anxiety can help you focus on how to change it and become a more productive, happier person.

If you read the book and don’t get anything out of it, it won’t feel like you wasted your time. Ideally you will follow the plan and read one chapter every day, followed by doing the activities. This will take you about two to five minutes per day for thirty days. However. If you’re like me, it will only take you a day or two of casual reading. Just knowing that you have nothing to lose will help you give the book a chance.

My main ISSUE with the book is how they CAPITALISE keywords. I understand that it’s used for EMPHASIS, but I still found it annoying. It just seems like something a young writer would do and made the whole book less credible. I could excuse the cutesy drawings, but capitalisation of keywords is just TOO MUCH for me.

It’s still early on, so I’m to too sure how effective the tips are, but I am hopeful. You shouldn’t read this if you have extreme anxiety, but if you’re prone to overthinking, you should give it a go. I will give it 7.3/10.

Question: How do you deal with anxiety?

[Lorry Rule · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read a chapter a day for the month of August and found the journal writing and activities really helpful in understanding how to get a grip on anxiety. Probably better if you have already read other books relating to the subject matter and have accepted that you need to change your way of thinking. Good little book. Rated 5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Candice Elizabeth Seretin]

I found this book to be very helpful in dealing with anxiety. There are some things that make you think also. I would recommend this book to anyone who is dealing with anxiety. I have read a lot of books to help with my anxiety and I believe this book is probably one of the first books that I have read that actually helped and by reading each day and doing what the task is for each day helps just a little bit more.

[Muphyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some useful bits and pieces but even within the limited scope of this book, it's too cursory and superficial for my liking. Plus I couldn't stand the conversational, bloggy writing style.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet and highly practical. Great if you need help fast.

[Soph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great book for people who have anxiety and ways for them to get over those feelings and just walk around them.
This book has strategies, Mantras and activities to complete each day to get over that feeling.
Overall I think this book is a great book for people who get anxious easily, people who want strategies for someone and really just anyone!

[Rowan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easily the most annoying book I’ve ever attempted to read. Capitalising a few key words in every sentence was just... not a great idea. I don’t understand. It increased my anxiety haha.

I’m sure there may have been some valuable points in this book, but I couldn’t get past day 7.

[M B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light reading about how to handle anxiety. It tackles anxiety in a casual way, which can help to relax the issue itself. You can easily flick through and find chapters that are relevant to you rather than reading it from beginning to end. As someone else mentioned, the CAPITAL letters STANDING out can be ANNOYING, but I forgave this small issue as I liked the book’s overall calming nature. Each day concludes with a summarising mantra, which I found to be the most helpful feature. I’m 3 weeks into a minimum 6 week recovery from a broken foot, and noticed my anxiety levels increasing along with upsetting thoughts towards the end of each day. This book helped give some perspective and I felt better.

[Adam Woods · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun, quick, practical book with lots of useful tips and tricks to manage anxiety. It won’t change your life but it could help you manage the symptoms of stress and alienation.

Whilst the advice is plentiful and accessible, Aisbett has done well to get a full book out of it. It should also be noted that, as far as I know, Aisbett isn’t a psychologist (nor does she claim to be). This books feels like a really good friend giving you advice rather a trained Doctor.

And I think that’s okay.

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked how easy and quick to read it was.
Big topic, tackled in 30 small chapters.

I read it all in one go to learn more about overcoming anxiety, but it's more of a guide book/ work book, meant to be a companion over 30 days. With specific advice and daily tasks, so you should be prepared to invest some time.

Utterly ANNOYED at the formatting though - Bev Aisbett seems to think it's necessary to highlight at least one word EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE in CAPITAL LETTERS and that's just killing me.

[thegreensofa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't really for me. I started with learning a few good tips and taking notes, but then..way too many words in CAPITALS !! It was like every fifth word was being YELLED at you. Not my style to be yelled at. Also I'm not into inner mistreated child and regression therapy and any other delve into negativity. So, sadly this was not for me. I gave it a good go and I'm really pleased for everyone that has found it helpful for them. I've managed to learn more about anxiety with delving into Enneagram and MyerBriggs etc. I'll stick with that :) .

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I listened to it on audible and I can’t recommend this book enough!! I cannot wait to be invited out somewhere so I can reply with “thanks for the invite. Let me overthink it and I’ll get back to you”. This book tells me what I already know but at the same time, I just need to hear it from an outside source. If you struggle with everyday life and need 30 day steps to overcome your anxiety riddled brain, than read this. And then read it again. And again and again! Until you can own your feelings and accept the person you are. Thank you so much for this book, Bev! X

[Sarah Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

It started a little weak I thought and led with the type of advice I find a bit disingenuous for people suffering from anxiety (not wrong, just a bit unhelpful I thought to lead with), but as I read it had some really awesome tidbits/exercises that made me think and felt very useful. So, like a lot of mental health resources, I think it was great as long as you don't condemn it for the parts that don't work for you and take away and use the parts that do work. It covers a wide range so I'm sure there's something for everyone. Also a solid easy, practical read.

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great book. I loved the rational thinking that underpinned Bev's approaches to anxiety and dealing with it. Her strategies were nothing complicated-many of the suggestions are things you might already be doing to cope with anxiety. But to have them laid out across a month, to encourage you to try different coping mechanisms will I'm sure help you to find a method that works for you. I'll be buying my own copy of this and I'm sure I'll be reading it again.

[Rina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This practical guide would be good to keep handy day in, day out.

While the topics covered in the 'Days' offered nothing ground-breaking, they were good, feasible advices. It was probably even better that the content was simple to digest, as simple baby-steps worked best for anxiety-riddled days.

I particularly liked the mantras for each Day, they served good focus for the day.

[Chelsea R.H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good, informative read and I enjoyed it. There were a few sections I didn't agree with, as well as a few chapters that just seemed a bit impractical. But overall, I really enjoyed it, found it helpful and will be looking to incorporate a few of the techniques Bev shared in this book in my own life.

[Pía López Copetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiny cool book. Straightforward, not addressing much bs about what anxiety happens to be, and an ideal companion if you're already familiar with other lectures on the subject - especially Mel Robbins' videos.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best anxiety books I’ve ever read. Straight to the point, lots of actionable steps, nice small chapters easy to read every morning. The only thing I didn’t like was the capitalisation but the actual content was quite perfect.

[Cait ♡ MintedReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many books to try and cope with my anxiety and no book is as helpful as the ones Bev Aisbett writes. I love the daily quotes I can repeat to myself.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

great practical self help book for self or loved ones

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the structure and guideance. Using it as part of the way to calm.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

1/1
1/2
0.5/2

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Simple and straightforward, practical advice. Just not particularly warm.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing I didn’t already know but had some good mantras to keep in my journal

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was quite a handy little book! It covered a broad spectrum of ideas in relation to shaping how those with anxiety disorders may view themselves and what can be done to challenge thoughts and shift perspectives when stuck in an anxious state of mind.

I liked the practical aspects within each chapter with step by step instructions that walked you through how to perform each activity and get the most of out them. Again, they covered quite a range of things from making lists to art therapy, practicing gratitude, and so on. I think this was great; there was no focus on one approach so it didn't feel biased in any way and different people may have found that they suited or took an interest in particular ones over others. There was really something for everyone.
I found that some 'Days' covered the more obvious ideas while others delved into a little more depth, and hence there was some variability in how useful I found each to be. Again though, I think this book aims to cater to a range of individuals whether they are novices or advanced in their knowledge and dependent on where they sit in their recovery journey. In that sense, I do think it did its job.

I have seen a few comments concerning dislike for the capitalised words—but I personally didn't mind them too much. I think this actually helped in its intention to emphasise and draw my attention towards the words/ideas that were most important within each sentence.

All in all, I think this could be a very useful resource for many people who are motivated to challenge their way of thinking and are looking for guidance on how to do so.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Promises and delivers. 30 ways that actually help you with overcoming anxiety. This is a book I cannot recommend enough for people living and dealing with anxiety. If you know someone who is open about their anxiety, give this book as a gift to them. It's that good.

It's simple. Kind of funny. And Bev is amazingly personable. But the best thing about it is that it gives you actionable steps to help with anxiety.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an OK read not sure how helpful it was, I guess it would be sitting down and working through it slowly over 30 days, but even then I think it might be fairly forgettable, I have found other similar books to be better and more helpful.