You probably picked up this book because you’ve been feeling stressed and worried and want help with that. Trust us, you’re in the right place and you’re going to find more than just a little help. Inside this book you’ll find secrets, strategies, hard truths, science, exercises, and more than a few mind-blowing facts that won’t just relieve your worry but will completely transform it. We’ll go as far as to say that the journey through this book could change your life. We can’t wait for you to dive in. To start, here's a story that might seem familiar to you:
Sabrina’s mom came into her room and opened up the blinds. The sunlight hurt Sabrina’s tired eyes. It took her a moment to fully wake up, to remember what was ahead of her that day. But once she did, her anxiety kicked in, her thoughts started to race, and her stomach felt queasy. She worried about the bus ride. (When her bestie wasn’t on the bus, it was hard to figure out who to sit with.) She worried about her math test. (Last week she was moved to the math group that everyone knew was the “extra help” group.) Sabrina’s thoughts often got so loud, she could hardly hear people in the same room with her. Her stomach hurt. Her head felt like it was underwater. She was hot. It felt like there was a battle inside her body, and she wished everything would just stop. She didn’t remember life being this hard before. If this book is going to work, we need to be honest with each
other. The truth is important. And the truth is that, sometimes,
life isn’t easy.
Maybe you knew that.
Maybe you knew that because sometimes you have that
horrible upset feeling in your stomach, like it’s full or burning or about to erupt.
Maybe you knew that because sometimes your thoughts spin like they’re on a carnival ride, dizzying, too fast for you to
focus, too fast for you to sleep, like hundreds of screams spinning round and round.
Maybe you knew that sometimes life isn’t easy, because sometimes you feel worried. Not just worried about things that might be dangerous, but worried about things that are part of a regular day. Worried about going to school. Worried about playing that soccer game. Worried about not being liked. Worried about feeling worried.
When all of those feelings and thoughts swirl together, it’s called anxiety. Anxiety makes us feel nervous, fearful, and terribly insecure. Anxiety makes us feel like running away and hiding, and sometimes we really do. Anxiety makes us feel like yelling and screaming, and sometimes we really do. Anxiety makes us feel like not trying anymore, and sometimes—well, you get the point.
There you go. That’s the cold, hard truth. But that’s not the
whole truth. There’s
more. And believe us, you’re going to want to hear this
more. Anxiety doesn’t need to feel so awful. There are ways to transform anxiety so that it actually works for you. The first step in learning how to deal with anxiety is to understand
why we’re anxious. The moment we can figure this out, the rest takes care of itself. So, why are we so anxious? Time for another truth: the main reason we’re all anxious is because our
superpowers have been zapped.
Are you rolling your eyes because we’re talking about superpowers? Hold on. We’re not saying you have super strength, laser vision, and that you secretly battle villains at night (although that would be cool). We’re saying that if you’re reading this (we’re pretty sure you are), and if you’re human (again, pretty sure that’s true), then you have a special set of powers that can supercharge you through life and help you fight stress, worry, and pressure. The problem? No one told you that you had these powers or how to use them.
That’s where we come in. We’ve worked with thousands of kids, each one unique, and every single one—without exception—has these skills we call superpowers. These superpowers are hidden deep within us. Sometimes they feel totally nonexistent, but they’re definitely there. Every single one of us came into this world fully charged with five incredible superpowers.
Copyright © 2020 by Renee Jain and Dr. Shefali Tsabary. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
