Notes On A Nervous Planet: By Matt Haig
Breaking News, Pandemic, Death, Emergency.
For the past few years, the above-mentioned words have invaded not only the world, but our homes too. This resulted in a psychological trauma of fear, anxiety, and worry. Worry set off to be a close friend of ours, that we started to dwell into death and the negativity surrounding it more than managing ourselves to maintain a healthy mental state through it all.
Darkness occupied the world, Its like we forgot how to smile and dance again
The world order changed, economies failed, people changed ..
Disconnection was and still is encouraged to avoid covid. Yet, it led us to love isolation even more. Isolation is good, self-care and self-love is a priority of mine and many others too. However, the isolation we’re in at the moment is nothing but a bubble that is filled with negative energy and constant cerebrations about death and who is going to be next.
Worldwide Isolation and lockdown have got to the point where we’re lacking physical connection and bond with real personas. At times of despair and desperation, we need a hand to hold onto and a shoulder to cry on, to assure us that everything is gonna be fine. Maybe a tight hug will also do ..
But hey, what if I told you that you can have a virtual hug and a hand to hold ,from a book?. A book that is written by someone who not only understands our worry and stress-free mind, but have also gone through similar and identical circumstances. This anxiety of ours has been experienced by Matt Haig, the author of the brilliant short handy book "Notes on a Nervous Planet".
This book not only concerns anxiety during the situation of the pandemic. It concerns us, and our tensed frazzled minds throughout different stages of our lives. And that also includes the whole idea about beauty, age and our anxiety in regards to it. This section has been elaborated on, in such a beautiful way that it is strong enough to change the international beauty standards and its connection to age, worldwide!
I’m a person filled with worry and fear of the future, which is why I have never been a close companion with peace and serenity. Until I got my hands on this book that I accepted to change. Willingly. Step by step.
Worry and the fear of the unknown is a nightmare for me and for others too. Its hard to overcome such a thing, for,it consumes our minds and makes us feel desperate. This impression leaves us drained and weak, that the slightest deed makes us feel like crying. The indicated fear extends to the point of making us overthink throughout the day and even year. As the author stated in the book, from his own experience "I am a catastrophizer. I don’t simply worry. No. My worry has real ambition. My worry is limitless. My anxiety- even when I don’t have capital-A Anxiety – is big enough to go anywhere. I have always found it easy to think of the worst-case scenario and dwell on it".
The current international situation is giving way for our bodies to shut down and disconnect from everyone and everything. The truth to be told, this is a healthy procedure to get back on track and refresh. However, people nowadays are so condemned on finding out the latest news, that their life is being thrown onto their smart devices. It’s always about, "we want to know about the world", aiming to avoid the shame of not being familiar with what’s really going. In other words, its like being ok with putting their mental health on edge as long as people know that THEY know.
As a matter of fact, its ok not to scroll down your twitter feed or always have your eyes on your TV with the intention of knowing what everyone expects you to know. Let your mental health be a priority, especially at times when everyone is mentally fragile and weak. As the author stated "There is no shame in not watching news. There is no shame in not going on Twitter. There is no shame in disconnecting".
Newsfeed and its correspondence, do have a great impact on our psych. I mean, a picture on our twitter timeline or a 30 second review on the radio or TV has the ability to stress us out, even if we’re geographically far from what’s really happening. Which is why we need to turn it off and recharge. And that’s is exactly what the author is telling us to do, when facing similar situations. "If you find the news severely exacerbates your state of mind, the thing to do is SWITCH IT OFF. Don’t let the terror into your mind. No good is done by being paralyzed and powerless in front of non-stop rolling news".
Somehow, devastating news supports the media financially, in terms of seeking people’s attention and most importantly, having more views all around social media platforms. As the author stated "Breaking news is continuous. And the more terrifying the news, the higher the ratings". "Which is why watching news can feel like watching a continuous metaphor for generalized anxiety disorder".
Despite what everyone believes concerning the latest news and the pessimistic vibes that consumes us afterwards. Its ok to take a break from life and isolate ourselves until we’re fully charged. There’s no shame with that. Our mental health has to be on top of our daily agenda. Therefore, the author reinforced the book’s theme of coping and living in an anxious planet by including tips on how to maintain a stable mindset during such times, in a very simplistic way and view.
In the end, I’d like to say that this book is an amazing easy read book that will help you change your mind about the traditional view and norm of what is considered as ok and what is not. This book is all about coping and living with your anxiety in an anxious world. Its like an anxiety survival kit which I super LOVE.
Coping with anxiety requires someone who understands you and not underestimates you. Someone who cares for you when you get those sudden panic attacks. Someone who makes you feel normal and help you get over your fears. Someone just like Andrea. PS: You’ll get to know and meet Andrea with every page flip!
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