Walking on Custard and the Meaning of Life: A Guide for Anxious Humans

Hughes offers a humor-filled and useful guide for anxiety sufferers in this work. He likens anxiety to attempting to walk on custard: an exhausting, self-defeating endeavor. After identifying himself to readers as a fellow sufferer, Hughes offers hard-won coping strategies for those dealing with anxiety, such as how to stop dwelling on painful past events, how to reprogram negative beliefs, and how to break negative habits. Exercises include instructions on “loving when you’re not sure how,” creating a “mind mansion” to find the source of self-limiting negative beliefs, accepting difficult situations, and “identifying and responding to inner voices.” While Hughes addresses the psychological reasons for anxiety and panic attacks, his book is chiefly geared toward proposing practical solutions for this common but crippling malady. He strikes a disarmingly relatable pose, freely admitting that he compares himself to everyone he meets and invariably comes up, in his own mind, as the loser. While the frequent interjections from the author’s “inner critic” can be hokey, his underlying advice is solid and sensible. A list of suggested further reading is included. (BookLife)