(Anything) With(out) Anxiety

The National Institute of Mental Health in the U.S. estimates that about 31% of people will face an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. For something so common, anxiety can still be surprisingly difficult to talk about. Most people are reluctant to open up about what they experience, often because they fear judgment or misunderstanding. At the same time, many still look for information that can help them deal with everyday situations. That’s what the With(out) Anxiety project is intended to provide: practical advice for people who are trying to stop letting anxiety make their decisions for them.

This Kickstarter is for book one: Traveling With(out) Anxiety. Travel may not come before everything else in life, but it’s where anxiety can have one of the biggest impacts. It can easily become a major limiting factor, preventing us from seeing the world, visiting the people we care about, and even just getting around.

If you’ve ever overpacked for a simple outing, triple-checked your itinerary, rehearsed a doomsday scenario a dozen times in your head, or canceled plans again because it just felt like too much, you’re not alone. And this book is for you.

What’s Traveling With(out) Anxiety about?

It’s not your typical travel guide. It’s about those moments when you need to travel but would rather crawl under a blanket and stay there. Be it fear of flying, getting sick from unfamiliar food, going far from home, or just not knowing what to expect, this book helps you unpack those fears, put them into perspective, and spend less time worrying about things that are unlikely to happen.

The book is filled with practical information, strategies, and techniques you can use to travel with as little stress as possible. It covers airports, turbulence, security, public transit, trains, cars, elevators, escalators, bridges, tunnels, crowds, restrooms, heat, traveling abroad, traveling solo or with others, and much more.

I didn’t choose to write Traveling With(out) Anxiety as the first book in the series just because I’ve always loved travel. I wrote it because I almost gave up on it, and I believe it’s something none of us should have to compromise on.

Travel is more than just going places. It keeps us curious, connected, and open to experiences outside our usual routines. It can give us a sense of freedom and remind us that our world is bigger than the circumstances we sometimes feel stuck in.

So when anxiety turns something so meaningful into a source of stress, it becomes more than just an inconvenience. You start avoiding it, and before long, it grows into a form of unwanted self-isolation. That’s what nearly happened to me. Finding my way back wasn’t easy, but I learned a lot in the process. If some of what I learned can make that path shorter or easier for someone else, then it’s worth sharing. This book is my way of doing that.

Here are just a few of the strategies you’ll find in the book

You can wiggle your toes during takeoff. Start slow, then faster as the plane picks up speed and climbs into the sky. This was suggested by Captain Truman Cummings, the pilot who launched the first fear-of-flying courses at Pan Am back in 1975. Even if it sounds simple, it can be pretty useful. It gives you something physical to focus on, which helps you stay grounded in the present, and it channels some of your nervous energy into movement.

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Rhythmic language has a calming effect. Research from the University of Plymouth and Nottingham Trent University suggests that reading or writing poetry can help 50% of people experiencing anxiety and depression. Poetry has a particular rhythm, cadence, and pacing that can hold your attention and capture your imagination, and that’s exactly what an anxious mind needs to latch onto to break out of looping or spiraling thoughts. Poetry books are usually small and easy to carry, but they can give you something surprisingly effective to focus on when anxiety hits.

Book Info

• About 110,000 words (350+ pages)
• 40 chapters covering most of the topics related to anxiety and travel. The book’s table of contents is on the main page
• Manuscript is complete and in its final revision
• Independently fact-checked and includes more than 220 reference links
• Written in simple and conversational language rather than as a scientific paper or clinical textbook

The book is based on personal experience. My writing doesn’t always take the conventional route. I don’t avoid sensitive topics or try to sugarcoat reality. I talk about the awkward parts, the mistakes, the things that didn’t work, and the thoughts we may have but don’t always say out loud, or sometimes even admit to ourselves.

My Journey to the Books

I’ve had several severe bouts of anxiety in my life: one when I was pretty young, another in my late twenties and early thirties, and yet another in my late forties. You can name dozens of anxiety symptoms, and I’ve probably had most of them. My panic attacks were devastating. I was exhausted and disconnected from who I really was.

Over the years, I tried many things to get better: therapy and medical treatment, breathing techniques, meditation, and plenty of other approaches. Some helped, some didn’t, and some worked in one situation but not in another. That made me realize that anxiety is deeply personal and shaped by many different circumstances. Context and timing matter, and there is rarely one solution that works for everyone or in every situation.

I’m doing much better now, and I’ve learned a lot along the way. What helped me was understanding what was happening, having practical tools I could actually use, and finding small, doable ways to keep moving forward even when I still felt anxious.

I often wish someone had handed me what I know today during my hardest moments. That’s the thought I keep in mind as I write these books. In many ways, I’m writing for my younger self, for the person I was then and the things I needed someone to tell me.

The Series

We don’t all worry about the same things to the same degree. Anxiety often becomes especially strong around the parts of life that matter most to us: travel, work, relationships, health, finances, sleep, and many others. Each comes with its own situations and triggers, so a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works.

That’s the idea behind the With(out) Anxiety series. Each book focuses on one area of life: what makes it difficult when anxiety gets involved, how our habits and routines can contribute to our worries, and what we can actually do about it. The books combine my own experience with useful information, research, and workable strategies you can try and see what works for you.

There is already plenty of useful information out there, but it’s scattered across different sources and often disconnected from the situations in which people actually need it. I want these books to bring that information together and make it simple and easy to use in everyday life.  

Good practical advice can help us stop putting off travel, relationships, work, or other things that matter to us while waiting to become completely free of anxiety. Life doesn’t begin after anxiety ends. We can keep doing what matters to us while anxiety is still present, especially when we have tools for dealing with it in the situations where it affects us most.

Traveling With(out) Anxiety is the first book, but several others are already in development. Some are almost fully written or half-written, and another is already in the proofreading stage.

You should expect:

• Sleeping With(out) Anxiety
• Working With(out) Anxiety
• Relationships With(out) Anxiety
• Personal Finances With(out) Anxiety
• Driving With(out) Anxiety
• Working Out With(out) Anxiety
• …and much more.

My goal is to keep each book honest, useful, and easy to relate to. There are no magic fixes, but there are practical solutions.

Why I’m Self-Publishing and Why Kickstarter

I chose to self-publish because it gives me the freedom to share the content the way that feels right. It lets me say what I have to say, not just what’s marketable or fits the usual narratives about healing or self-help.

When writing about anxiety, there’s no room for generic advice or pretending that everything can be fixed immediately. You have to tell the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. And you shouldn’t have to wait a year or two for a book to be approved and published.

By self-publishing, I can:

• Decide what topics to cover and keep creative control
• Build a series that covers important areas of everyday life without waiting for a publishing deal

I’m not doing this for shelf space or just to become a published author. I’m doing it for the people who are hiding in the bathroom, canceling plans, over-researching symptoms, or lying awake at 3 a.m., wondering what’s wrong with them.

The first book is already written and in its final revision, so I’m keeping the funding goal modest. I’m looking for enough support to get the book across the finish line and set up the webshop. But the goal is just the starting point. The more support the campaign receives, the faster I can move forward with other parts of the With(out) Anxiety project.

With your support, I’ll be able to:

• Launch the first book
• Kick off the rest of the book series
• Improve and develop the website
• And then set up a curated webshop and a content channel

More importantly, it helps me stay independent and build a direct connection with the people this project is for: you.

Beond the Books. The Webshop

Long-term, the platform will also include a curated shop of practical tools and resources, so you don’t have to search dozens of places to find things that might help.

• Journals & workbooks
• Sleep aids
• Sensory and grounding tools
• Books, guides, and apps

It’s not about just selling products. I want the shop to be another useful part of the project, helping people deal with different anxiety-related challenges in everyday life.

 

What You Are Getting

I’ve created a range of reward tiers so you can support the project in whatever way feels right for you, from getting the ebook or paperback to becoming more involved in the future of the project.

If you’re mainly interested in Traveling With(out) Anxiety, you can simply back the book. Higher tiers are for those who want to support the project beyond the first release, with rewards such as exclusive development updates, behind-the-scenes access, and long-term discounts on future books and products in the webshop.

Every pledge helps bring this book to publication, while higher-level support also helps me build what comes next: the rest of the book series and the wider With(out) Anxiety project.

Backing the project is different from simply getting a book. You’re helping it grow beyond a single book and showing there is real demand for practical and experience-based resources on anxiety.

 

Where This Can Go Next. The YouTube Channel

Following the book’s publication, I plan to expand With(out) Anxiety into video content covering the everyday realities of life under stress and different ways of dealing with it. Here are some of the areas I want to explore:

• Practical ways to manage difficult moments
• Real-life walkthroughs: travel, social life, work, sleep, dating, and more
• Personal stories and insights into common anxiety loops
• The latest technology in the field
• Reviews of tools, books, trends, and news related to stress and anxiety

The aim of the channel is to share practical knowledge and perspectives that can make anxiety easier to understand and navigate. We can’t remove every uncertainty from life, but understanding what we’re dealing with can make it feel less overwhelming and help us see options we might otherwise miss.

 

Risks and challenges

As with any other creative project, there are risks, especially with printing, shipping delays, and production timelines.

The content for Traveling With(out) Anxiety is already written and in its final revisions, so fulfillment will begin right after the campaign wraps.

The ebook will be delivered first, followed by the paperback. This gives me a final opportunity to correct any small issues that may surface before the book goes to print.

Several more books are almost fully written or half-written, and another is already in the proofreading stage.

The website is already up and running, with more to come. The webshop is set up but not yet stocked, but backers will always receive what they’re promised, including early access and exclusive discounts.

As a solo creator, my biggest challenge is scaling, but I’m committed to transparency. Backers will get regular updates and early previews as things develop.