First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety

By: Sarah Wilson

Why hello there….April. Spring showers bring May flowers? Spring comes in like a lion and out like a lamb? Have you heard those sayings before? This sounds a lot like finding the beauty in Spring while recognizing the unforgiving or dreary. Take that a step further, while Spring has its issues (rain, cold, possible snow, cloud cover) there is still beauty to be found. New growth, warmer weather and the approaching brighter days ahead. What a lovely way to consider the season. If we can adapt our mindset for Spring could we also adapt our mindset for other aspects of our life. Take mental health for instance, many are aware of the negative connotation that mental health has. But why must this be true? Can we shift our perspective from “that is not a great aspect of me” to “this is a part of me that also makes me beautiful”. This takes ‘finding the positive’ and ‘where’s your positive mindset?’ to a whole new level. It is about embracing the aspects of self that aren’t pretty all of the time and finding acceptance within yourself to truly make a part of you BEAUTIFUL. 

In Sarah Wilson’s,  First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety, you are given the opportunity to make peace with those aspects of self that maybe yourself or others view as “difficult” or “ a problem”. This read gives the idea for a person to begin a journey of not only finding self but also how to make those difficult aspects of self more manageable. The author tells a tale of having the courage to view a person’s mental health journey (in this read that journey is about anxiety) as a way to develop self, a way for growth and understanding one’s self. This wouldn’t happen if the anxiety wasn’t present? We all know that living a life with anxiety is not the most ideal situation, that life would be so much different and let’s say smoother if it wasn’t present. But if it is there, why live in viewing it negatively and merely view it as a way for personal growth? In the book the author discusses changing anxious habits stating, “It wasn’t about changing myself. It was about creating ease and gentleness around who I was, which allowed me to make better choices”.  In this case, let your own vulnerability become your strength. 

-Jenna Kagarise, MA, NCC