Little Panic by Amanda Stern (November 2018)
Little Panic was my most memorable reading experience in 2018. In particular, I’ve never been blown away by the first one hundred and fifty or so pages of a book. I understood before opening Amanda Stern’s work that I was in for something a little different than my standard reading experience but the force of her recollections about searing experiences with anxiety produced in me a rare mixture of powerful responses – empathy, understanding, and to a small but not insignificant degree, kinship.
This book was as hard to write about as it was at certain times to read. My goal was to convey some of my own emotions by selectively highlighting some of Stern's insights while also imparting some practical lessons for you, my cherished TOA readers, to keep in mind for when we all rise to the challenge of helping someone’s mental health. Frankly, this is an outcome I’m poorly equipped to achieve with my current set of skills and experiences. I hope the process of challenging myself through writing prepares me to someday rise to the occasion when my presence can help someone in a moment of need.
In terms of how I’ve put together my thoughts on Little Panic – over the next couple of weeks I’ll post four reflections. These cover themes I noticed as I reviewed my notes on the book – the effect of testing, how to express hurt, the impact of assumptions, and the role connection plays in healing. These general concepts taken together form Little Panic’s broader unifying concept – the cost of conforming to an outside expectation is always a portion of the self.
