Anxiety as an Ally

How I Turned a Worried Mind into My Best Friend

By: Dan Ryckert

Narrated by: Dan Ryckert

Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

After experiencing his first panic attack on New Year's Day of 2003, Dan Ryckert began a 12-year process of learning how to channel panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder until they became driving forces in his life. Using anxiety as his ally, he was able to land dream jobs within the video game industry and vastly improve the quality of his personal life. 

In this candid recollection, you'll learn about how he went from having panic attacks during college roll calls to speaking in front of large crowds with minimal interference from anxiety. More importantly, Ryckert details the methods in which he channeled these once-negative conditions until they became a driving force in his life and something he wouldn't get rid of even if he was given the chance.

©2015 Up to Something Publishing (P)2019 Tantor

"Dirty" Dan Ryckert delivers some great insight.

A simply put, but personally detailed look at one person's struggle with, and eventual understanding of anxiety and all that comes with trying to regain control.
I've been a longtime fan of Dan's work from his Game Informer days and was glad when he joined the Giant Bomb crew. He brought a very much needed different kind of enthusiasm for video game journalism and the industry with him where ever he put in work. So I was surprised that the guy with the wacky personality suffered panic attacks to the degree he recounts in his book.
I originally wanted this book to see how I can be more understanding of the people I know that struggle with panic attacks, but this book does so much more. It goes in depth to explain different techniques and medications (and his personal side effects) he's tried to successfully get his anxiety under control.
It's a wonderful book to gain a new perspective on what someone that struggles with panic attacks deals with.

Narration is great. Dan reading his own book makes it feel more personal, and it helped to hold my attention over a few days of train commutes and lunch break walks.

I'd recommend this book to anyone that wants to know more about how people with anxiety issues feel, and if you personally struggle with anxiety, I hope Dan can help you realize that help is never out of your grasp.

Thank You

Felt nice to know others are going through the exact same things as I am. His experiences he shared were comfortably horribly familiar. Thank you for this

An eye-opening look at anxiety

I’ve followed Dan Ryckert for years and you would never know from his work at Giant Bomb that he was/is living with anxiety. That context is what makes this book so meaningful, listening to the lows he had to deal with in his life makes the climb out of anxiety seem much more attainable for any reader who is also dealing with it. I loved this book. It’s the length of a long podcast episode, so I finished it in a day.

Helpful, down to earth.

The author and read, Dan Ryckert, is a lovable goof with some stories to tell about his anxiety and how he has mostly overcome it. The book feels a little book-reporty and Dan is obviously not a well practiced audio book reader, but he reads his words with heart and enthusiasm.

He offers interesting viewpoints and tips for dealing with anxiery and has given me more tools to help me deal with mine.

extremely helpful

Since listening I've taken Dan's advice on take my anxiety head on. Forcing yourself to do the things that trigger panic attacks has helped me make the far less scary. Would recommend this story of Dan's fight to anyone surffering from a panic disorder.

Fear, a biography

I don't suffer from GAD (Generalised anxiety disorder) so i can't relate to the randomness, but it was insightful on how to deal with Fear/Anxiety. Several tips on how to deal with anxiety, and well worth the listen.

An honest and comforting comparison

It is very reassuring to hear how Dan so honestly and openly discusses his journey to a more healthy life. There are some really good tips (presented with interesting stories) that can be taken away here and I for one am glad that I've heard them.