The Anti Anxiety Guide is live!

While almost having finished The Anti Anxiety Club Guide I came across this quote from one of the greatest writers I know of: James Baldwin. I had been struggling with the concept of simplicity for a while at that point. Both in my writing as well as in my life in general. I tried to keep my guide as short as possible, so it would be an easy read, but often I’d find myself doubting my own words and trying to fluff up sentences to try and hide my insecurity. Baldwin’s words helped me realize that the best thing to do was to be my most honest self, stripped away from any pretense and without trying to be too perfect.

“Rewriting [is] very painful. You know it’s finished when you can’t do anything more to it, though it’s never exactly the way you want it… The hardest thing in the world is simplicity. And the most fearful thing, too. You have to strip yourself of all your disguises, some of which you didn’t know you had. You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal.”

So here I am, writing my first ever blog post for the Anti Anxiety Club, reminding myself that the only thing I have to do is to be open and vulnerable. So much of our society is built to disguise and hide our insecurities. Things to make us more beautiful, brands and status objects to make us feel better about ourselves, food and alcohol to alter our emotional state. It seems like a lot of us are always on our way to bigger and better. But if you stop and reflect for a moment - there are only two really important things: health and love. Love for and from friends, family and even strangers. And the most important: love for yourself. And what I know now is that the way out of an anxiety filled life, is the way into a life of self love.