Monkey Mind By Daniel Smith Essay

Anxiety can be a crippling disorder that can change your life in almost every way. “Monkey Mind” by Daniel Smith is a memoir written about his battle with anxiety. In his memoir Smith lays out what anxiety is to him and how it has impacted his life. He writes about many specific instances in which his anxiety was at its highest point in his life and what he did to try and combat it. Imagine feeling on edge and constantly nervous, or having an infinite number of potential situations and how wrong they can go running through your head. That is what anxiety does to people. Anxiety can rip apart even the sanest individuals and render them helpless in a state of constant self-doubt and what ifs. Daniel Smith’s anxiety, like many cases, had a trigger event which still causes him pain. When Smith was merely sixteen years old he was seduced and then statutory raped by an older woman. This trigger event has led to years of dealing with his disorder and trying to come to peace with it. Smith goes on to say that he has regular talks about his anxiety with his oldest brother, Scott, and how it impacts them both. Daniel says, “Our anxieties are different breeds. Mine is cerebral. It starts with a thought – a what if or a never will be… Scott’s anxiety …show more content…
It starts off a little heavy in language and context because Smith decides to use his trigger moment as a hook for his memoir. Other than a couple other instances of heavy topics, that spur from his anxiety, Smith does an exemplary job in laying out anxiety and how it impacts people. In his writing he is able to interject some comedy and makes light of some topics and helps give personal examples and how he combatted the situation, whether it worked or not, to help those who read his memoir to understand. Upon reading this book I have found many new strategies to help myself and others combat whatever level of anxiety that I or they may