I spent years trying to stop being anxious. I meditated. I exercised. I cut out caffeine. I told myself to relax. None of it stuck. Because “letting go” isn’t something you can just decide to do. It’s something you practice.
If you’ve been trying to release anxiety and feeling like you’re failing, these three books helped me get unstuck.
1. Break the Anxiety Circle by Miles Carter
This is a practical guide to managing anxiety and overthinking. It doesn’t tell you to just relax. It gives you tools to use when your mind starts spiraling.
One exercise that changed how I respond to anxiety: the book asks you to name the feeling instead of fighting it. When I feel that familiar tightness in my chest, I say “I’m scared right now.” That small act of labeling, not judging, not fixing, creates space between me and the feeling. It takes some of its power away.
What I didn’t expect was that letting go didn’t mean making the anxiety disappear. It meant no longer being afraid of the anxiety itself. That shift changed everything.
2. The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
Singer writes about the voice in your head that never stops talking. It comments, criticizes, worries, and predicts disaster. I used to think that voice was me. Singer made me realize it’s just a voice. And you don’t have to obey it.
He teaches you to observe your thoughts without being pulled under by them. To notice the spiral without falling into it. This is the other half of the letting go equation. Not fighting anxiety, but noticing it as something separate from you. That distance makes it lighter.
3. The Worry Trick by David A. Carbonell
Carbonell writes specifically about how worry gets stuck. He says the more you try to control worry, the more it controls you. The book gives you strategies to stop fighting your anxious thoughts and start responding to them differently.
One idea that helped: trying to stop worrying is like trying to stop hiccupping. The harder you try, the worse it gets. The way out isn’t force. It’s something gentler. Read this if you’ve been trying to control worry and finding it exhausting.
One last thought
Letting go of anxiety isn’t about eliminating it. It’s about changing how you respond when it shows up. The tools in these books helped me do that. If you want a place to start, Break the Anxiety Circle gives you something to do the next time your mind starts spinning. Try one exercise tonight and see what shifts.