Caroline Foran’s new book offers a clear, step-by-step roadmap for moving in the right direction through anxiety, without skipping the essential foundations that make recovery stick.

Here, in an excerpt, the acclaimed author outlines why the art of self-compassion is one that has revealed its true power to her. If you can truly embrace a more positive inner voice, you’re halfway there…

AND NOW FOR the most unskippable chapter before we set off. If there’s one thing you won’t get anywhere without – no matter how badly you want it or how well you think you know the route – it’s fuel (or to be charged up if you drive electric – you get the idea).

In this case, the fuel that will power you through these stops is this: self-compassion. Get on board with this idea, and you’ll find it a lot easier to move through the stops and come out the other side. Without it, getting unstuck will feel nearly impossible. It’s why it took me so long.

Understanding the science of self-compassion, which turned it from a wellness trend I once rolled my eyes at into a biological tool I couldn’t ignore, is something I discovered much too late.

In fact, I didn’t even mention it in my first anxiety book because, back then, I hadn’t yet had the eye-opening conversations with some of the world’s leading experts on the topic.

I knew I shouldn’t be so hard on myself – enough people had told me that – but I honestly considered self-compassion a bit of a swizz. Without diving into the research, I lumped it in with frothy positive affirmations and manifestation – none of which I believed would make a blind bit of difference to my experience.

(I’m still sceptical about manifestation, especially its promises to those who are already and conveniently quite privileged, but that’s a topic for another book.)

Everything I Wish I’d Known About Anxiety by Caroline Foran is published by Gill and is out now. Gill Books Gill........

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