All The Little Monsters by David A. Roberston

A memoir that details how he learned to live with his anxiety

Image | All The Little Monsters by David A. Robertson

(HarperCollins)

From the outside, David A. Robertson looks as if he has it all together—a loving family, a successful career as an author, and a platform to promote Indigenous perspectives, cultures and concerns. But what we see on the outside rarely reveals what is happening inside. Robertson lives with "little monsters": chronic, debilitating health anxiety and panic attacks accompanied, at times, by depression. During the worst periods, he finds getting out of bed to walk down the hall an insurmountable task. During the better times, he wrestles with the compulsion to scan his body for that sure sign of a dire health crisis.
In All the Little Monsters, Robertson reveals what it's like to live inside his mind and his body and describes the toll his mental health challenges have taken on him and his family, and how he has learned to put one foot in front of the other as well as to get back up when he stumbles. He also writes about the tools that have helped him carry on, including community, therapy, medication and the simple question he asks himself on repeat: what if everything will be okay?
In candidly sharing his personal story and showing that he can be well even if he can't be "cured," Robertson hopes to help others on their own mental health journeys. (From HarperCollins)
David A. Robertson is a Swampy Cree writer and novelist based in Winnipeg. He has published over 25 books across a variety of genres, including the Misewa Saga series, picture books On the Trapline and When We Were Alone, graphic novel Breakdown, and his memoir Black Water, which won two 2021 Manitoba Book Awards. Robertson is the winner of the 2021 Freedom to Read Award.