A book review of Be Mighty: A Woman’s Guide to Liberation from Anxiety, Worry & Stress Using Mindfulness & Acceptance by Jill A. Stoddard, PhD.
Stars: ***
New Harbinger Publications (2020)
Self-Help
208 pages
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.
Summary: In a culture where women are still paid less for doing the same jobs, expected to juggle family and career effortlessly, and faced with the harsh realities of misogyny and sexism daily, it’s no wonder you’re also twice as likely to experience issues related to anxiety and trauma. But there are real tools you can use now to build personal resilience in a difficult world, move past anxious thoughts, and conquer your worries and fears. This book will help guide the way.
Be Mighty leads you on a bold quest to gain a deeper understanding of your anxiety by exploring your own “origin story”—how your early experiences led to thoughts and behaviors that may have offered comfort and protection at one time, but are now keeping you from living your best life. Using practical tools and experiential exercises based in mindfulness and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), you’ll learn to respond to present-day triggers in a new way, making choices from a more conscious, values-driven place.
So, drop that outdated armor and dive headlong into this book. You’ll emerge fresh and fierce, with the confidence to stand up for the life you want to live and the power to face life’s complexities as your best, most authentic self. It’s time to be who you truly want to be. It’s time for you to be mighty!
Be Mighty
I was eager to read this book because I suffer from anxiety along with my Bipolar. The book is based on the ACT form of therapy (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.)
“ACT is a model of psychotherapy whose aim is to improve psychological flexibility, or the ability to contact the present movement more fully (including all thoughts, emotions, memories, sensations, and urges, no matter how difficult), and chose actions that are in line with deeply held personal values.”
Be Mighty by Jill A. Stoddard, PhD page 7-8
The book is fairly short at 10 chapters and 208 pages because the author recognizes that many women with anxiety don’t have time to sit down for a long book.
The chapters cover: foundation information about anxiety, worry, fear, stress and their disorders, the experience of anxiety and the drive to avoid it, present-moment awareness, alternative to avoidance, values identification, the influence of the past on your present, shedding unhelpful habits, concept of self, walking the talk and a summary.
The book had some helpful advice. The end of each chapter has a Bring it On section with activities you can do. The point is you can’t avoid anxiety, so you have to learn to live with it and live through it. I appreciate that outlook. I think I’m just not psychologically ready to deal with my anxiety yet. You have to be ready to address it to make the most out of this book.
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