As You Are
Self-Improvement not required
Available Now on Amazon Kindle, Apple books, Google Play and in paperback.
(You can read it on any device with free kindle software.)
I have my qualms about publishing with Amazon. I spent a lot of time and energy looking for an affordable alternative to print the paperback on demand and couldn’t find anything that was both straightforward and would keep the cost of the book reasonable for you, the reader.
But I do want to offer an alternative for the digital version so you can purchase the e-book directly from me either as an ePub file or a PDF here.
Stop trying to 'find your purpose'
It's not a lost sock that will turn up if you only search hard enough.
The self-help industry has us convinced that we need to keep fixing ourselves in order to live fulfilling, meaningful lives.
Enough, already! It's time to get off the hamster wheel of endless self-improvement.
As You Are is a compassionate yet no-nonsense guide for the recovering perfectionists, over-doers, and personal development junkies who really just want to be more of themselves in the world. It's a resource for authentic living in a world obsessed with self-optimisation.
It's time to unlearn the self-help hustle and choose presence over perfection.
What People Say
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Sam Arter
"Another useful and insightful book from Vix. Putting into words so succinctly many of the things I think about and wrestle with and presenting an alternative 'rebel' approach!”
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*****
"As You Are offers a refreshing perspective on personal growth and well-being.
Departing from the traditional self-help narrative, Vix challenges many of the assumptions we hold about success, happiness, and fulfilment, offering a much-needed counterbalance to the often-toxic self-help culture. Thought-provoking, empowering with wonderfully simple strategies to follow, this book is engaging and easily accessible.
If you're looking for a fresh perspective on personal growth and well-being, this book is a must."
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Debbie Riley
"This book shares a message that is so needed in the world right now.
Vix boldly challenges the traditional narrative around self-improvement with curiosity, compassion and insight.
As someone who has been deeply dedicated to my own self-improvement over the years this book is like a permission slip to slow down, exhale and embrace myself just the way I am."
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Heather Paluch
“SO much of this book resonated with me. It’s written in such a way that you feel like Vix is talking directly to you, yet her personal examples are appropriate and insightful. There’s so much to take away from this book. I’m definitely a perfectionist (maybe now I can describe myself as a recovering perfectionist), but until I read this book, I saw perfectionism as a strength. How wrong was I? I should be aiming for progress, not perfection! Another thing that resonated loudly with me was the concept of consistency — I am not a machine! People describe me as a machine and I take that as a compliment… perhaps I need to flip my view on this.
So many takeaways from this book. Everyone should read it, perfectionist or not.“
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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CC
"I love Vix's style of writing as it sounds like she is speaking directly to me. I resonate with her description of being a 'Recovering Perfectionist' and I have found such understanding of myself through reading this book. A greater acceptance of myself and all my imperfections. I feel a more expansive range of experience comes from implementing the wisdom in this book. I have been on a journey of slowing down to feel and experience more of what I am blinded to when I am doing too much. Thank you for putting your words into book form.”
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*****
"Be Here Now and don't try to constantly get anywhere else is a message I can't hear often enough. Especially when it comes to the dubious endeavour of self-improvement. Vix speaks about this trap in a very relatable, easy-to-digest way. I really enjoyed the bite-sized chapters and the viable takeaways I got from them. Thanks for the gentle reminders!"
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"Vix speaks from the heart and what she says makes a lot of sense. I read this book with a feeling of relief - it allowed me to be myself whilst making suggestions for me to make my life better, even if that is just to be. Easy to read and I felt I was being supported rather than being 'told off' for not being good enough!"
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Aaron Hill
"Thank you Vix for putting this treasure chest of a book out into the world. It’s digestible due to it being short, yet long enough to challenge me and give insights into new ideas to learn more about myself. A book that I will reread a fair few more times to let the weight and wisdom shared, really sink in. My takeaway, could I create with presence and curiosity? And my favourite question “What would this look like if I was 1% more at ease?”
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Emma Milford
“A beautifully written and well researched book that guides you through life’s ups and downs, and helps you appreciate and adapt to the intimidating ‘voids’ in our lives. As someone working hard on becoming a ‘recovering perfectionist’, this book has helped me consider new approaches to dealing with my anxiety in under achieving. The ideas around adapting to the natural cycles that surround us made so much sense. I’ll definitely be tweaking my spreadsheets and planners (yes I still need these!) to account for the seasons and my menstrual cycle etc. and aim to live more cyclical than linear. Thank you Vix for another inspiring and informative book.”
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"Beautifully written with a very honest and personal view. I will use quite a few sentences of the book as a reminder to myself. "
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"Recently returned from four years in Bali, an island full of workshops and retreats for personal development and the endless quest for bettering oneself, I couldn't help but wish I'd had access to some of these ideas sooner. The author is as much an advocate for rest as for hard work, for sitting with the void as much as orienting toward purpose, for sitting quietly in a clearing of one's own life, stripping away the noise, and hustle, and ambition, and allowing oneself to feel toward the future, instead of rationalize and action toward it. If you need a permission slip to stop the hustle and grind, and allow yourself to wonder what it would look like if life contained more pleasure and peace, in service not only of yourself but of showing up in service for something larger than yourself, look no further than As You Are."
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"A book relevant for our times - a definition of being authentic to our true expression. A must-read for all those struggling with the one-size-fits-all self-improvement movement.”
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Liora
I really enjoyed this second book by Vix Anderton.
I love the way it’s written with short paragraphs and sentences, being so easy to read. I had so many little ‘aha’ moments and actually journaled out a lot of the simple but profound questions and ‘quotes’. I could stick these in places as reminders.
I feel like it’s a book I could go through over and over again and hear something new in. Such a beautiful and practical reminds to be where I am now, and to lean into the unknown and unfolding without seeking to fix it.
I also loved how human the author is in this book. She so beautifully shared her own learnings and reflections and where she is still growing into these reflections.
Excellent second book! -
Dana Sakowski
"I am really enjoying its concept and I like the layout of the book. Small bites but strongly written so you don’t feel like it’s beating the topic to a pulp. I almost put 4 stars because I think to try and take the book in one sitting the frequent quotes and revelatory comments get a little blurring. Almost overwhelming. But overall I’m really enjoying it and love the humble perspective the author takes to self improvement and life itself. It’s a very kindly written reminder take a breather. No matter if you run around or sit down every day. Take a moment to appreciate yourself as you are and your life as it is."
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Ben Evans
“This book is a great reminder that in striving for success and progress we often miss out on the gifts we already have available to us. And that slowing down to the speed of our embodied experience is where the magic of life happens.”
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Sumeena Gupta
“As a self-improvement junkie, the promise of this book drew me in. Self improvement not required - that’s new! Reading through the easy-to-breeze-through chapters, I couldn’t help to relax into the ideas being shared. It was comforting to hear the author's views, stories and suggestions. I felt myself opening up to the ideas that she was presenting.
Even just reading all the chapter titles made me take a deep, relaxing breath. It felt like someone had taken all my questions and doubts and put them on paper. The author then goes onto address these in a gentle yet rounded way, it really landed. This is a must-read for those of us who feel compelled to “take the next course” or focus on “improving” ourselves constantly. Nothing wrong with that, and it was good to have someone suggest a few other ways.”
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Craig Roberts
"What a breath of fresh air! Just reading this book has opened my heart and given me some freedom.
Succinct. Bite-sized, thought-provoking, soul-provoking, heart-provoking, body-provoking insights and questions. No additives, artificial flavorings or sweeteners. I'm going to keep going back to it. Every time I open it, it helps me unlearn a little more."
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Ulrike Wehrstein
“I love this book - it is incredibly helpful to me. It provides me with what I need right now - spaciousness, freedom to find my own way of doing things, clarity about mechanisms in my surroundings that don’t serve me and encouragement to get back into the body and ask for its wisdom.
Vix achieves this already in the layout of the book: short chapters, meaningful quotes that frame each chapter and the spacing of the text. It makes the book feel light and friendly.
Through her beautiful writing style, I get the impression that Vix is directly speaking to me. She touches my heart and grounds me in my body by the many references to what is happening in her body. It feels as if she is on this journey with me. She doesn’t write from a place far beyond my reach but is walking next to me.
This book is not only for recovering perfectionists, but also for people like me, that have a lot of very driven people in their personal history and are sensitive to the dictate of our culture to be perpetually busy and achieving. It helps me to find my place and my own way of doing things in this meritocracy."
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Amy
"This book has moved me to tears multiple times. I've been on this journey trying to "heal myself" from perfectionism, self-criticism, complex trauma, and ultimately realizing that this obsession with "healing" is re-enacting more of the self-rejection I'm trying to heal from in the first place. In this book, Vix says: "No amount of self-improvement will ever fill the hole that self-rejection creates." It kind of felt like the floor ripped out from under me, but then I was caught in a warm, reassuring hug. The safety was always there, I just couldn't feel it until now. Vix's has a way with words that finally answers the question "but how?!" After reading it, I feel safer and more relaxed, like I've let go of this clenching in my stomach. I released tension I didn't even know was there."