jaymeb reviewed Monkey mind by Daniel B. Smith
Review of 'Monkey mind' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This book was on my “to read” list for the longest time. I couldn’t read it for the longest time because I kept thinking, “If I wanted to read a neurotic’s story about struggling with anxiety, I’d get off my fat *** and write it myself.” What could anyone tell me about anxiety that I didn’t already know from first-hand experience? But I’ve been determined to go through my entire “to read” list and decided to give it a shot.
And I’m glad I did. The writing was entertaining and definitely relatable...I started cracking up when he described his thoughts about making a mistake at work...”I’m going to lose my job, my home, and will have to prostitute myself for money,” because, yeah, I’ve thought that myself. And I screamed out “YES!!” when he described his desire to have an actual psychoses...where you are completely detached from reality and do …
This book was on my “to read” list for the longest time. I couldn’t read it for the longest time because I kept thinking, “If I wanted to read a neurotic’s story about struggling with anxiety, I’d get off my fat *** and write it myself.” What could anyone tell me about anxiety that I didn’t already know from first-hand experience? But I’ve been determined to go through my entire “to read” list and decided to give it a shot.
And I’m glad I did. The writing was entertaining and definitely relatable...I started cracking up when he described his thoughts about making a mistake at work...”I’m going to lose my job, my home, and will have to prostitute myself for money,” because, yeah, I’ve thought that myself. And I screamed out “YES!!” when he described his desire to have an actual psychoses...where you are completely detached from reality and do not realize you’re crazy...because that would be better than our own daily struggle where we have these thoughts that are crazy and we know they are crazy but we can’t seem to stop them. When people say, “You’re being ridiculous!” I always want to respond, “No ****, Sherlock! I have anxiety!” How do they expect me to respond? “Oh my gosh! Am I? I had no idea!”
This book made me think about my anxiety...really think about it...for the first time in a long while. It’s like really looking at someone you’ve been married to forever like you’re seeing them for the first time. Not always a pleasant experience, but something I should do more often instead of just using anxiety as a crutch.
