Phobias are the most common mental disorder in the U.S, as approximately 10 percent of people in the U.S. experience phobias. Even if you are not bothered by a specific or social phobia, fear haunts us in different ways. It can affect our performance, for instance if we have a fear of public speaking or anxiety during an exam. An intense exposure to fear can even cause mental problems like panic attacks, cold sweats and other symptoms that affect our well being. There is always a way however, to deal with those fears and overcome the demons in our lives. Here is a selection of 5 books that can help you to conquer your inner fears.
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
Most of the times we see our vulnerability as a weakness, something we fear. Dr. Brené Brown offers an alternative view in Daring Greatly and encourages readers to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives. The book sheds a new light on what it means to engage with our vulnerability, the reason (shame) why we are so afraid of being vulnerable, and how to combat the situation. The book will not fix your insecurities instantly, but it helps readers to realise and relate to their lives in order to move forward.
Reading duration: 4hrs 32mins
Get Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead from Amazon at $13.60
The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks
The Big Leap helps you learn how to jump from mediocrity to excellence. To do that, you have to learn to conquer the fears that are holding you back. Hendricks suggests in the book, that certain fears are fake, mostly because we believe ourselves to be limited.
In the book, we learn about the four hidden barriers that many of us impose on ourselves that may limit us. A lot of our negative emotions are self-limiting, including worry, and self-criticism, and these are the hindrance to our future success. Hendricks offers us his key to success “I expand in abundance, success, and love every day and I inspire others around me to do the same.”
Reading duration: 3hrs 10mins
Get The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level from Amazon at $7.57
Hardcore Self Help: F**k Anxiety by Robert Duff
This book is not your regular self-help (if i might say, boring) anxiety relief book. Instead of going on and on with scientific knowledge, Duff delineates the important stuff clearly in a way anyone can understand with or without prior education in psychology. There is lots of swearing and humour, with lots of helpful and actionable information. Even if you do not suffer from anxiety, you will get a good laugh from the book.
Reading duration: 59mins
Get Hardcore Self Help: F**k Anxiety from Amazon at $9.99
The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne
The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook is a practical book with exercises for readers to follow through, such as breathing techniques and info on herbal remedies to ease generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety, specific phobias, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other anxiety-related issues. Aside from the quick and easy fix, the author provides challenging negative self-talk and mistaken beliefs, and imagery and real-life desensitisation to a step-by-step guide to slowly put your life together. If you have anxiety, this book would act as a very good supplement to a professional counsel that can be around with you for anytime.
Reading duration: 6hrs 54mins
Get The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook from Amazon at $19.41
Calm: Calm the Mind. Change the World by Michael Acton Smith
Our daily lives are filled with tasks, stuff, people. Calm is the book to help you rediscover the pause button during your hustle and bustle. Mindfulness meditation is a proven way to reduce anxiety and stress and improve your overall well-being.
Many people relate meditation to huge lifestyle change, a Buddhist who practices Zen, Calm is about simple and achievable habits that fit into the busy life all of us live. Expect this to be a workbook that provides you with a step-by-step guide to keeping a gratitude note every week, a ten-minute meditation that is able to fit into your bus-ride to work.
Get Calm: Calm the Mind. Change the World from Amazon at $6.64
