- What Is Anxiety?
- Take our Generalized Anxiety Disorder Test
- Find a therapist to overcome anxiety
Life is not only composed of what happens to us, but is also made up of the stories we tell ourselves about our experiences. Some narratives extract meaning and purpose from life’s most challenging situations, while others lead us to ruminate on the unfortunate, unfair, or unpredictable aspects of life’s events
Telling ourselves an overly negative story often fuels anxiety and depression; however our inner story does not need to go from entirely negative to entirely positive, nor pessimistic to optimistic. In narrative therapy the aim is to avoid being “single-storied,” and instead embrace the richness and complexity of life, leaving room for a wide range of emotions, meanings, and interpretations of our experiences
Reading books, like Charlotte Agell’s Just for Today, can help children, and their grown-ups, to consider healthier narratives. More than anything, reading books can remind us that our story doesn’t end here—the blank pages ahead offer hope of a satisfying plot twist, an important revelation, and ultimately a happy ending
Children’s book author and educator Charlotte Agell shares her take on surviving worry spirals and celebrates the life-changing power of reading
Q:Share a bit about your background and what inspired you to writeJust for Today
Charlotte Agell: I’m a lifelong public schoolteacher and mom, and soon-to-be grandmother. Life is full of love and drama. Just for Today grew out of Elba and Norris’s first adventure, in their debut book, Maybe Tomorrow?They just kept talking to each other, as friends do, and talking to me, telling their stories
Both Maybe Tomorrow? and Just for Today grew out of things family members said to me. When my daughter was going through a tough time, she said: “Don’t try to fix it, just listen.” I used the character of Norris in Maybe Tomorrow? to teach myself more about that. He’s such a good listener. (It’s funny how characters can be wiser than their creators!)
This new book, Just for Today is about getting caught in a worry spiral and how friends can help each other through that. My mother, who’s very wise, has this saying for when something is so hard it’s almost impossible to imagine anything different. She says, “This is not the end of the story.” I drew on that to explore how the stories we tell ourselves affect our moods and our thinking
- What Is Anxiety?
- Take our Generalized Anxiety Disorder Test
- Find a therapist to overcome anxiety
Elba and Norris, like all true friends, hold each other’s stories gently but also prod each other toward growth and calm. This time, Elba can help Norris. I think both books are essentially about the life raft that is deep friendship
Q:How do the stories we tell ourselves contribute to anxiety? How do the characters in the book decide to try a different story to help with their worries?
Charlotte Agell:Life seems sometimes like a journey of narration. I am from Sweden, but as a child I lived in both Canada and Hong Kong as well, before coming to the U.S. and finding my forever home, Maine. There were a lot of changes, including going to five different schools on three continents between fifth and seventh grade. It was bewildering. I wondered, as one often does, who I was
Anxiety Essential Reads
5 Things About Panic Attacks I Wish I Had Learned Earlier
Safety Objects Won’t Cure Your Panic Disorder
I have always been a big reader, someone who has taken solace and inspiration in literature. I have also always been a storyteller. Over the years. I have navigated by story myself. In low moments, I try to reframe my own story. The stories we tell ourselves can sink us or they can help us swim. The right story can make a heart brave. And stories are meant to be shared. That’s what Elba and Norris do, in their own bumbling way, even as the plot thickens and twists and turns
Q:When the friends get swept away with worry, what helps them find their way back to each other?
Charlotte Agell:Elba, who specializes in worrying, is able to remember what Norris has said: Sometimes, worry is telling yourself the wrong story. Just for today, try telling yourself a different story.” So, she focuses on the moment, not the shipwreck. She notices the butterflies and berries and her own strength. She finds a way to sing about it. Norris, way upriver, has uncharacteristically crumpled. We all do worry, after all. He needs his friend and she shows up for him. And they are both able to go on into the day.
Q:What important lessons about anxiety can young children learn from your book?
Charlotte Agell:I hope that they can learn that worrying is something we all do. When we get carried away by it, it really helps to reach out to someone. Anxiety, of course, is different from worry. I hope that this book, like Maybe Tomorrow? (with its emphasis on grief and loss), can be something like a doorway, an invitation to talk about things. Sometimes, when we read something that resonates, we realize that we do not have to go into hard feelings alone. Children are full of feelings. I hope Just for Todaycan be a starter kit for exploring worry, one of the harder feelings, with love and reassurance and some humor, too.
Q:What do you hope young readers take away from spending time withJust for Today?
Charlotte Agell:Over the years, my students and my life have taught me a great deal about friendship. At the core, this book is about reaching out, about daring to be yourself with a friend, whether you are happy or sad. Both of these books focus on social-emotional learning, with the characters often taking an opposite perspective on things. I hope that this will invite deep conversation and maybe some hugs and laughter, too
