I Have Anxiety (So What?): The Unapologetic Guide to Overcoming Your Anxiety

by Wes Woodson

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders are the most common of mental disorders and will affect almost 30 percent of adults at some point in their lives. Author Wes Woodson’s I Have Anxiety (So What?): The Unapologetic Guide to Owning Your Anxiety explores mental health, anxiety, and self-empowerment for Generation Z, the most anxious and depressed generation. Woodson dispels the level of shame that exists around talking about anxiety and mental health overall with a narrative that aims to free his generation from striving to be perfect and, unapologetically, moving towards accepting themselves unashamedly.

I Have Anxiety (So What?) educates the reader about surefire ways to take control, and includes personal stories about those who have learned to better manage their anxiety and succeed at self-improvement. The book is a testament to how authentic storytelling combined with scholarly research comes together to encourage the reader to take back the power from their anxiety once and for all!

205 pages, Paperback

Published May 24, 2021

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently heard Wes facilitate a program through work. He is honest, patient, friendly and his smile can light up a room. This book is a straight forward, personal look into what internal and external anxiety looks like, feels like and the constant journey it takes to live with it. I hope every young person dealing with these feelings somehow finds this book and reads it. I wish this book existed for me 20 years ago. When you are dealing with feelings you don’t understand or sometimes don’t want to acknowledge the last thing you want to read is a self-hell book. But a self-help book embedded into a personal story can lead to the healing you need.

[Shannon Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

RELATABLE.

Typically, when I read self-help books, I always feel like the author is talking about things that wouldn’t work for me or sounds great in theory but not in practice. For the first time, I didn’t have that feeling with this book. IMO, there’s a difference in writing a story and storytelling. The author does a great job conveying ways to own your anxiety via storytelling from his direct experiences, not just hypotheticals. The reality is, there is no cure for anxiety. This book provides ways to change your perspective so you can successfully live with and manage your anxiety without feeling any shame.

“…you can’t defeat your anxiety. The voice never truly goes away, despite taking pills or exercising. However, with the right tools and guidance, you can learn how to make the voice somewhat quieter and more productive.”

[Patty Lavalle]

This is a great beginning book for people who want to learn how to manage their anxiety and normalize it. It is easy to read and there is a lot of storytelling. I heard the author speak at a conference and he was quite engaging. As an adolescent psychologist, I recommend it for teens and young adults struggling with anxiety and their parents and yea hers/coaches who work with them.

[Braeden Lhamon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's alright. A decent read for improving oneself. There's quite a few grammatical errors though and the "characters" can be quite irrelevant or unimportant in their dialogue