Verity Crosswell - Anxious Little Monsters: A Gentle Mental Health Companion for Anxiety and Stress (Art Therapy, Mood Disorder Gift)

Praise for Anxious Littl e Monsters

Anxious Little Monsters takes fear-inducing thoughts and puts them on paper with relatable words and gentle illustrations. Its both practical and inspiring. Great to have on hand in t imes of need.

Tim JP Collins, The Anxiety Podcast

What a lovely book this is. Full of helpful sayings, relatable illustrations, and compassion . I loved it.

James Withey, author of How to Tell Depression to Piss Off and How to Tell Anx iety to Sod Off

Simple advice and simple illustrationin the world of overload, thats sim ply brilliant!

Tom Granger, author of Draw Breath: The A rt of Breathing

This cute companion guide will help you deal with anxiety and let go of nega tive feelings.

Thibaut Meurisse, author of Maste r Your Emotions

Like having a soothing, understanding friend in your pocket, I want to bring this with me ev erywhere I go.

Kate Lucey, author of G et a Grip, Love

These are great little reminders to make us feel better, appreciate ourselves, and stay positive. In fact, they are positive self-affirmations, but presented in a very lighthearted and approachable way. They definitely put a smile on my face and made me feel bette r personally.

Niels van Hove, author of the My Strong Mind seri es for children

I love the way I feel when I spend a moment or two inside Veritys sweet book. These Little Monsters really have a way of becoming Little Friends your mind can hold on to anytime the anxieties of life begins to rise. Highly recommend it for adults an d kids alike!

Chel Hamilton, host of Meditatio n Minis Podcast

Verity Crosswells Anxious Little Monsters are the friends we all need to carry around with us right now.

Clare Pooley, bestselling author of The Sober Diaries and T he Authe nticity Project

Copyright 2021 by Verity Crosswell
Published by Mango Publishing, a division of Mango Publishing Group, Inc.

Cover Design: Jermaine Lau
Cover Illustrations: Verity Crosswell
Layout & Design: Megan Werner

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Anxious Little Monsters: A Gentle Health Companion for Anxiety and Stress

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2021943451
ISBN: (print)978-1-64250-339-5, (ebook) 978-1-64250-340-1
BISAC category code SEL036000, SELF-HELP / Anxieties & Phobias

Printed in the United States of America

To my family, for all the inspirati on and support,
to Rui, for being the best teammate anyone could ask for,
and to anyone whos ever given me a safe space w ithout judging
it helped more than I can say.

Table of Contents

Ive had anxiety for as long as I can remember.

At its worst, I was kept up late at night screaming soundlessly into my pillow in pure terror until my body exhausted its supply of adrenaline and I collapsed into a dazed heap. When the alarm went off, I would slap my mask back on, ready to go off to school or university and pretend that everything was normal. I didnt even know what it was at the time. I just thought that the obsessive, circular thoughts I got in the midst of a panic attack meant that I was going crazysomething which only compounded my fear and made me desperate to hi de my symptoms.

Over the past thirty-plus years, Ive learned a lot of different strategies for coping with anxiety and depression (the latter being something which, thankfully, hits less often, but still needs management when it does). A massive breakthrough for me was when I met my partner, who suffers from similar issues, and we discovered that a lot of the things we said to ourselves during times of panic or high stress were substantially more effective when they came from someone else . Not to mention, its a lot easier to have a sense of perspective when youre not the one in the thr oes of anxiety!

With that in mind, I tried writing down some of the phrases we found ourselves repeating the most and putting them on Instagram to see if they might help other people, too. I illustrated them with tiny little monsters going through the same issuessometimes the monster would be struggling, sometimes it would simply have a friendly face. The cuteness of the monsters makes me want to cuddle them and help them out and, in turn, helps me feel the same way toward myself when Im struggling.

The AnxiousLittleMonsters Instagram account really took off. I was thrilled at the number of comments I got saying that my illustrations had really helped, or that what I had written was just what they needed to hea r at that time.

So I hope it helps you, too. Im not a doctor or any kind of medical professionalIm just someone whos found some things to say and do that really help me and others. I would love for them to help you, too.

How to Read This Book

Ive arranged the chapters in this book like a journey, starting when youre in a crisis and ending with finally seeing a way out. My idea was to have you start from the point youre atwhether thats in a full-blown panic attack, feeling guilty that youve had one, accepting that life is sometimes challenging, or simply needing a little encouragement to go do the things. Once youve read that chapter, the most helpful for you will then be the following one.

But you dont have to read this book that way at all! You can jump in and out, skip chapters, read it backwards whatever works for you.

I had to pick a way to organise it though, so here it is.

Anxiety is horrible. Ive struggled with it for a long time. And I know that, more often than not, fighting any kind of panic only makes it worse. If you can manage to accept it as something that is terrifying but will recedelike a stormits an awful lot easier to not get sw ept away by it.