I am a worrier, and I have been for most of my life. As a teenager, my mom always used to tell me 'not to make mountains out of mole hills' because my worries were often over insignificant things.

Now, as a woman in my early 30's, I still find I worry about insignificant things. But I also have a lot of fear and anxiety about things that likely will never actually happen.

2020 really didn't help me deal well with my worry, so I kicked off 2021 with this personal development book, and I learned a lot!

I appreciated how this book started with chapters explaining what worry is and what causes it. There are actually different types of worry, which I had no idea about! The author includes case studies from individuals he has worked with too during his days as a clinical psychologist. I felt understood reading this book, and like I'm not the only 'chronic worrier' out there! In later chapters, the author goes into explaining techniques and methods that you can try to help handle your worry. He explains that not every method is going to work for every individual but that you can only help yourself by giving each method a try.

I can say that after reading this book, I have taken away a more insightful approach to my worry and why it happens, and I have started to use techniques that are helping me handle it so that it doesn't consume me. And also that I am having less of the same worrisome thoughts over and over.

This book taught me that the most important thing to do with worry is to break the cycle. And the best approach to take is a counter-intuitive one, which is why many people continue to struggle with worry. The way to solve it is not how you would think! Carbonell helps the reader learn these less-obvious approaches.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who considers themselves a worrier, and would like to do something about it. He has a second book, Outsmart Your Anxious Brain, that I might pick up later this year. I think it'll be a good one to read down the road to 'check in' with myself about how I'm handling my worry after working through this book this month.