Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review. 
Expected publication date: March 23, 2021
A “high functioning” person, according to Dr. Chloe Carmichael, is “someone who goes beyond the basics of taking care of their physical and mental self, is able to take care of their basic needs and can sustain meaningful relationships with friends and family”. Furthermore, a “highly functioning person” is usually an overachieving Type –A personality, who is driven to succeed, has personal and occupational goals, and strives to perform well. It is to these people that she targets in her novel, “Nervous Energy: Harness the Power of your Anxiety”. Carmichael believes that these types of people benefit from anxiety, and that oftentimes their anxiety has led them to multiple paths of success, but they can also suffer detrimentally from this same anxiety, and she aims to explore this. 
I have read a few self-help books (I try to avoid them for the most part, as I find them oftentimes to be preachy and condescending), but the ones I do read focus on anxiety and depression. To use Carmichael’s phrasing, I am a “consumer” of therapy, and have had a few therapists (Carmichael explains that high functioning people find it difficult to match with a therapist because they have more complex needs) , so I am too familiar with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, and have probably tried each and every therapeutic activity for anxiety that there is. It is hard for me to read a book on anxiety and be totally blown away by the author’s new and novel therapeutic suggestions (I am also a skeptic, so it takes a lot to get me to “buy in” to a lot of therapy techniques….did I mention I have a BA in psychology?) but Carmichael provided a few more techniques that I hadn’t tried before, and I might even be willing to give them a shot. 
Carmichael highlights her nine-step approach through examples from her client base (honestly, one of them was so relatable I worried Carmichael had somehow been spying on me), and then breaks them down to make them relevant and usable to just about anyone who suffers from anxiety (and, of course, is “highly functioning”). Unlike most therapy approaches that suggest a person with a Type-A, “almost OCD” personality alter their ways of thinking and behaviour, Carmichael highlights the positives of these personality types, and instead targets the negative thought patterns that these types may suffer from. It was refreshing to see this type of attitude portrayed in a self-help novel. 
Some of these approaches are new (to me) and some seem to be just more detailed examples of things I’ve seen before, but either way, Carmichael definitely has a creative way of addressing the “anxiety-driven person”. Although Carmichael touts the benefits of therapy (and encourages her readers over and over again to ‘review’ the activities and tools with a trusted therapist), but her suggestions are also good starting points for those who aren’t quite ready to make that jump. 
“Nervous Energy” has good flow, uses easy-to-understand language, and actually provides a bit of insight and new therapeutic techniques, which is great for anyone who is tired of trying the same therapeutic activities over and over and having no success.

I was very excited to start this book and was thoroughly engrossed in the first 39 pages. Finally, I thought, a self-help book that really understands me. I am a high functioning person who, like everybody else, has my own mental and emotional challenges. Those challenges act as both my strength and my weakness. 

The pitfall I find with many self-help books is that they would be better off as a 1000 word article. In most books in this genre, the author has a very succinct point to make or process to describe, but for the sake of creating a book they belabor the description so much it makes me want to poke my eyes out. 

The fact that it’s also done in this book made me take a 180 after the first thirty pages. At third I thought the author new her audience. And then as I got into the endless description of slow mindful breathing, I realized that either the author didn’t know the audience (high functioning people don’t need 30 pages to understand mindful breathing) or I’m not the audience. 

The book has really good points and I admire Dr. Chloe for all she has done, but the book just got more frustrating to me the longer it went on. 

Does that mean her techniques are bad and her information does not have value? Heck no! She’s got good ideas on how driven, high functioning people can quiet their minds and focus on the goals. All I’m saying is that the presentation of these techniques is probably better in a different format than a book. Webinars might be good. White papers.  

But alas, Dr Chloe is a very smart and very driven person. The book, as a result, seems more a tool for her than one for me. 

#netgalley #nervousenergy

I personally suffer from anxiety and a lot of people do especially during these times.  This book is a very constructive way to address those issues with new and out-of-the-box methods. I highly recommend this book.

a guide how to work through mental health issues as an already high-functioning person, NERVOUS ENERGY is full of engaging writing and specific examples that are fun & illustrative. I enjoyed it overall & will seek out a physical copy and/or audio in the future. my concern, however, is the fat-shaming sprinkled throughout the book. while exercise & fitness are important, body size is not. I worry that this weakness could make many high-functioning readers — including those with eating disorders — feel excluded. otherwise, NERVOUS ENERGY seems pretty current regarding technology, social media, & problems that high-functioning people realistically face in daily life. as a high-functioning person w/ anxiety myself, I found NERVOUS ENERGY useful & already recommended it to my therapist!

I think that if people read this book, they should read the description along with it. I couldn't follow this book. i did try though,m but after going to chapter 5 i gave up . This book wasn't for me, I couldn't follow it for some reason. I am grateful that Netgalley let me read this in exchange for an honest review.

When life for the entire universe and planet turns on its end and like everyone else you "have nothing to do" while your place of work is closed and you are continuing to be in #COVID19 #socialisolation,  superspeed readers like me can read 250+ pages/hour, so yes, I have read the book … and many more today. And it is way too hot to go outside, so why not sit in from of the blasting a/c and read and review books??  BTW - stay home and save lives!!!!!!!! No tan is worth dying for.

I requested and received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.  

From the publisher, as I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as they do it better than I do 😸.

A roadmap for high achievers to harness restlessness, roadblocks, and distractions into a productive drive towards personal and professional fulfillment.

Oftentimes, young adults reach success by deliberately being their own worst critic and obsessively double-checking their work; or by pushing their feelings aside. This strategy is seductive because it does work, at least up to a certain point. The problems arise once you advance beyond school and early career stages. The higher you climb, the more complex projects and issues in your life become. Meanwhile, you may have become so good at putting your emotions aside in certain situations that it’s hard to reconnect with them. This is when the old tools no longer suffice.

The "somewhat OCD" tendencies we pride ourselves on, or rather, the “Nervous Energy” we possess, can become mismanaged, and lead us down a rabbit hole of excessive self-criticism, anxiety, and pessimism. In Nervous Energy, Dr. Chloe Carmichael outlines nine tools with step-by-step instructions that can help you harness your Nervous Energy in order to live a more productive and fulfilling life. If managed correctly, the nervous energy that some people label as anxiety can actually be a source of stimulation, productivity, and fulfillment—and Dr. Chloe Carmichael has tried and tested methods for making this happen.

If you've ever felt a sense of excess energy that you didn't quite know how to direct or felt that your creativity and motivation was being drained by constant analysis paralysis, Nervous Energy is for you.

My husband is currently making me NUTS over our "celebrate his retirement" vacation - we have changed the destination five times now due to border closures and COVID19 hotspots. Or should I say I HAVE CHANGED the vacation five times and he is stressing when there are still weeks and weeks before we go about what/where/when/why/who AND how.  (I keep saying "I am not taking on your stress!").  But by reading this book I kind of understand his quirks - but I am not sure if the suggestions here would work for him. At all or ever. 

This is more of a book for millennials and said ilk - people who constantly analyze themselves and forget to live their lives. (my one sister would throw in the word "Aquarians" as they tend to spend so much time analyzing themselves that they forget to live their lives!)  It really annoyed me that the repetition of "Dr. Chloe Carmichael" was used twice in the description - I would have had more respect if it was just "Dr. Carmichael", if she was an MD, if she did not have a website named drchloe.com and if she spent less time on camera on TV.

If the description of the book appeals to you, by all means, read it - it just didn't appeal to the grown-up woman who prefers people who don't go as far as saying she "works with New York City’s top executives," and then lists diets two paragraphs later along with all her social media channels on a webpage. (I cannot possibly take her seriously!)

As always, I try to find a reason to not rate with stars as I love emojis (outside of their incessant use by "🙏-ed Social Influencer Millennials/#BachelorNation survivors/Tik-Tok and YouTube  Millionaires/etc. " on Instagram and Twitter... Get a real job, people!) so let's give it 🌪️🌪️