"As you move through the book, try to bring whatever amount of playfulness you can to these exercises and techniques. It is important to keep an open mind. That said, if something doesn't feel like it is working for you drop it and move on to something else. In this book, you are the priority." - The Anxiety First Aid Kit by Hanson et al.

If you're someone who values self-care, this is a perfect book for you!

Divided into four (4) parts, the authors provide us with various ways on how to help manage our stress and anxiety. It's easy to read and understand. I love how they were able to provide practical tips on what to do should you experience stress or anxiety. Most of the tips that they provided can be done anywhere and by anyone. You don't necessarily need any additional materials to help you out. In other words, it's not only for the privileged, which is something I've learned to look for whenever I'm introduced to new mental health techniques or activities.

Knowing how much hypnosis and hypnotherapy is still stigmatized in the mental health profession, I love how the authors included hypnotherapy techniques in this book; they showed that it's not harmful like most people think. Other techniques they included are forms of mindfulness, meditation, exercises, active imagination, and so forth. With a glimpse of the practices included here, you might say that the only thing stopping you from actually doing the techniques that they provided is yourself and the limitations of your imagination.

However, one thing that I didn't like about this book is that I found myself reading the same things over and over and over and over again, only this time, it's called something different. Or, it's a seemingly deeper way of practice. I would've appreciated this more if they proofread it so that it won't be too repetitive. Nonetheless, it's still a useful first aid kit for anxiety.

Thanks to  Rick Hanson, Matthew McKay, Martha Davis, Elizabeth Robbins Eshelman, Martin N. Seif, Sally M. Winston, David A. Carbonell, Catherine M. Pittman, Elizabeth M. Karle, and New Harbinger Publications for providing me an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

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I got this from Netgalley, so thank you to them for this very relaxing book.

If you've been to therapy, and have a good therapist they've likely told you almost everything that is in this book. It's the little things, like learning how to breath to calm yourself down, notice when you're feeling anxious, and to make a place for yourself mentally are all things I've heard before and are great tips to help someone.

This was written in particular, because we're in a stressful world as it is on top of having to live in a pandemic. This is in no way a substitute for getting help from a professional, but it is a good way to make yourself feel better; you can take a break from all of these stressful times to read a book to help yourself mentally.

Hardly any of the exercises were new to me, but it's nice to have them all in one place. There are things from CBT, ACT, mindfulness, and breathwork.

It was okay but I didn’t find most of the advice that helpful

Some good tips but lots of repeats.

A great and concise book with many, many mindfulness and anti-stress strategies. Easy to read and use the practices immediately. I think this will be one I reach for periodically for stress check ups. Worth the read.

Lots of helpful tips for dealing with unhelpful thoughts and anxiety.

This book was great! Lots of techniques that anyone with anxiety could use & if you didn't like one there are plenty more to try. I love how it went beyond the basic "use your senses to distract yourself" activity for talking yourself down from anxiety. I will definitely be referring back to this book!