A Non-Anxious Life

November 13, 2023
Fadling (A Year of Slowing Down), president of Unhurried Living, a spiritual and leadership coaching consultancy, and self-described “master of anxiety,” traces in this stirring outing his search for peace through faith. Plagued since childhood by the “dark insinuations” of anxiety, the author has realized that while fear can’t be eradicated, “the ways in which I have let malform me can be reformed” through the knowledge that “my very body is a temple of the Holy Spirit... that Spirit bears the fruit of peace.” Weaving in scriptural passages that have brought him comfort (including Paul’s entreaty in Colossians to “live your life in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith”), the author explores how anxiety distances believers from God (in that it displaces “trust from a reliable God to own unreliable ideas”); the value of turning attention outward (“When we pray for others... we are bringing others into the presence of God—with us”); and the ways in which anxiety shrinks one’s world (anxiety “is usually aimed at surviving,” while “grace invites us to thrive”). While Fadling’s observations are thought-provoking and eloquently conveyed, readers will find most comfort in his promise that anxiety can coexist with faith and his admission that he too is a work in progress: “I’m not claiming to have arrived in a place where I never feel... worried anymore.” Stressed-out believers will find succor. (Feb.)Correction: An earlier version of this review mistakenly described the author as a pastor.