“When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness.” – 4.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: anxiety, prayer, happiness, getting busy, true stories and life-changing knowledge.

I’ve been struggling with anxiety for as long as I can remember, and in the past few years it has gotten worse. Luckily, a good friend of mine recommended this book to me, so I decided to give it a try! After reading, I can happily say that this book has completely changed my perspective on worrying and my mentality on the subject.

In this book, Dale Carnegie shares techniques to help us overcome worry in order to live with peace and happiness. The book is divided into eight parts: it goes from understanding and learning facts about worry, to how to analyze what is worrying us, to stop worrying and live a happier life. I could be here all day gushing about this amazing book because I took so much from it, but here are things that marked me the most:

• To not think too much about what happened in the past and what the future could bring, and focus on today instead;
• That there’s a difference between being worried and being concerned about something – this was a big one for me;
• To think of what is worrying me and what the worst case scenario is if the worry became true. After figuring that out, accept it and resolve it the best I can. And voilá, it doesn’t seem so bad anymore!
• To get clear and deconstruct what is worrying me;
• To get busy, constructive, improve myself constantly and focus on what I CAN control;
• That controlling my worries will have a tremendous impact on my health. I’m promising myself I’ll rest more to be energized, I’ll find new ways to relax and I won’t let others rain on my parade!

I feel like almost everything in this book is not ground breaking in the sense that it is mostly common sense. Now with that said, this book tells you exactly what you need to hear, in a very informative, structured and constructive way  – and that’s why this book is so special! Another great thing about this book is that it is packed with true stories that will help inspire readers by showing how others overcame worry.

An important note: if you’re not religious, don’t let the religious aspect of this book stop you from reading the book. I’m sure religious people will resonate more with what’s said here, but I believe this book is for everyone!

This is one of those books I will keep revisiting from time to time, because it helped reflect on my own attitude and actions. This is definitely a must-read for all my fellow anxious/stressed people!