First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety

 如果你有焦慮症，這本書是為你準備的。

 如果你愛的人患有焦慮症，這本書是屬於你的。

　　紐約時報暢銷書 I Quit Sugar 作者 Sarah Wilson 已幫助全球超過 120 萬人成功戒糖，卻長期飽受焦慮之苦。她將現代人視為負擔的焦慮症狀轉變為深入我們生活中的精神導師。

　　Sarah Wilson 是一名成功作家、企業家與勇於解決問題的人。她同時深受焦慮症的煎熬。在她閱讀精神醫師凱·傑米森描述自己躁鬱症經驗的名著《躁鬱之心》時，Wilson 發現了一句即將改變生活的至理名言：要戰勝野獸前，必須先美化牠。

　　對 Wilson 而言，長期焦慮 (chronic anxiety) 就是自己的野獸，而上述諺語將幫助她理解病情並扭轉一切。由於這件事將陪伴她走過很長的一段歲月，必須學會將之視為引導，而非敵人。Wilson 研究觸發事件、治療與方式。她廣泛閱讀並採訪了其他受害者、心理健康專家、哲學家甚至是達賴喇嘛，將所學結合自己的經歷融合驗證。她認為即使焦慮症是危險的、必須服藥控制的疾病，但透過定義它為一種精神追求，而非痛苦折磨，此渴望感將使我們接近真正重要的核心所在。

　　實用、詩意、睿智並有趣。Wilson 希冀本書能鼓舞無數靈魂，擁抱焦慮並視為自己的一部分，讓自己、家人與伴侶都能與這野獸和平共處，並探索更豐富、富足的生命可能性。

　　「這可能是我讀過關於與焦慮症共生最棒的書了。」–馬克‧曼森，《管他的：愈在意愈不開心！》作者（文 / 博客來編譯）

New York Times Bestseller

＂Probably the best book on living with anxiety that I’ve ever read.＂ - Mark Manson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

The Chinese believe that before you can conquer a beast, you must first make it beautiful.

Sarah Wilson first came across this Chinese proverb in psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison’s memoir An Unquiet Mind, and it became the key to understanding her own lifelong struggle with anxiety. Wilson, bestselling author, journalist, and entrepreneur has helped over 1.5 million people worldwide to live better, healthier lives through her I Quit Sugar books and program. And all along, she has been managing chronic anxiety.

In First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, Wilson directs her intense focus and fierce investigating skills onto her lifetime companion, looking at the triggers and treatments, the fashions and fads. She reads widely and interviews fellow sufferers, mental health experts, philosophers, and even the Dalai Lama, processing all she learns through the prism of her own experiences.

Wilson offers readers comfort, humor, companionship, and practical tips for living with the Beast:

• Cultivate a ＂gratitude ritual.＂ You can’t be grateful and anxious at the same time.
• Eat to curb anxiety. Real food is your best friend.
• Just breathe. Embrace the healing power of meditation.
• Make your bed. Every day. Simple outer order creates inner calm.
• Study fellow fretters to know thyself. Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. all struggled with anxiety.
• Actively practice missing out. Forget FOMO, curl up on the couch, and order takeout.

Practical and poetic, wise and funny, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful is a small book with a big heart. It will encourage the myriad souls who dance with this condition to embrace it as a part of who they are, and to explore the possibilities it offers for a richer, fuller life.