An enjoyable and informative memoir by Julie Chavez, wife and mother of two boys, whose mounting anxiety and depression finally takes its toll, leading her to experience debilitating panic attacks and how she was finally able to get better with the right treatment through trial and error. This book is very well written and I admired her strength and honesty.

This memoir resonated with me and provided a reminder that it is okay (and necessary) to prioritize outside commitments (and say no!) and to take care of myself. It’s a good pairing with How to Keep House While Drowning. Thanks to Zibby Books, Julie Chavez, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and share my thoughts.

This story is beautifully written. I loved hearing how Julie learned to listen to her heart. Her words made me laugh, smile, and cry. Very well done!

Memoirs are hard to review and unique - I am not going to judge somebody else’s experience, what I can say, though, is that Julie’s book is compulsively readable, a chatty writing style that feels like grabbing a cup of coffee with a friend, pulling up a chair and just listening to her. Really listening, because this is a book so after your one coffee, you grab a refill, maybe switch to decaf at that point but you want to keep reading/ listening.
Everyone But Myself by Julie Chavez is a new Zibby Books release, and it is an extraordinary memoir. The author’s writing style and honesty make this book so very special. Her portrayal of a mom’s mental health struggles while trying to juggle all responsibilities is so well drawn. She is honest and clear that her own expectations of herself are detrimental to her relaxation just as much as everybody else’s- she is not casting blame merely stating that maybe just maybe she assumed too many responsibilities were hers and hers alone to begin with. Her story is relatable even if you haven't experienced the mental health struggles she has - taking care of yourself should not be restricted to times where there’s no other option !

Everyone But Myself
Author Julie Chavez
Available now!

Thank you, @zibby books and @netgalley, for my #gifted e- arc!

Everyone But Myself is a relatable and satisfying memoir, and I am positive that Julie's honesty and vulnerability will resonate with many other women as well. On a mondern0 day mission to meet everyone else's needs but her own, overwhelmed to the point of anxiety and depression, and annoyed at her own invisibility, Julie shares her raw and poignant experiences from the last straw and then through the bumpy path of self- awareness, bravery, and mental health.

Filled with wit, humor, and love, Julie offers readers an intimate peek into her journey, allowing readers to transform and grow right along side her.

I am always drawn to memoirs, especially those that feel relatable. In Everyone Buy Myself, Julie Chavez beautifully shares a story about losing herself to debilitating anxiety and depression and her personal journey to find the help she needed in order to find her way back. It took a lot of courage to tell this story and I found myself nodding along at times and I think most mothers/wives/caregivers will be able to relate to Julie in one way or another and even see themselves in these pages.

I loved that Julie shared her personal journey with us and how she was able to find the tools and esources to help her feel like herself again. There was a lot of reflection throughout the book about notherhood and marriage and that if you have ever felt yourself struggling to know that you are not alone.

Thank you to @zibbybooks for the #gifted book

Just finished Everyone But Myself by Julie Chavez.

Soooo much of her story resonated. The doing doing doing until we can do no more. And all the doing for others, not ourselves. It’s an easy place for mothers to find themselves.

I appreciated Julie sharing her journey from The Night [She] Couldn’t Turn Off the Lights to getting support to learning to take care of herself again. By providing her roadmap it helps others of us see what’s possible as well.

I loved some of her sentences so much I had to highlight as I read. The one with the leather pants has me picturing Ross in the bathroom with baby powder. (#friends)

But the best of them? Be Adequate.

In this memoir, author Julie Chavez recounts the year in which she could no longer juggle her busy life as a working mom trying to do everything for everyone and developed a full on anxiety disorder complete with panic attacks.

I feel like the reviews I read of this one emphasized the relatability of being overwhelmed by mom life, and somehow I missed the fact that it really was about serious, clinical anxiety. I’d describe myself as a functionally somewhat anxious person, but with lots of friends and family members with more serious anxiety problems. And so I have to say, reading this book actually made me feel kind of anxious myself! That’s a testament in many ways to Chavez’s writing, that really puts you in her mindset, but it also meant it was a bit tough for me to read at times. There were a lot of great quotes and some good advice though.

3.5 stars

I felt so seen reading this book. I think so many mothers struggle with anxiety because we do juggle a lot. Chavez is so real with her journey and how she handles everything. And she shows us that it is tough, but we become stronger from it.

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read this book!

I think most people , will be able to relate what Chavez experienced in her book.
With so many of juggling a million things it is easy to get overwhelmed and that leads to anxiety and the vicious cycle continues, like a hamster wheel with no way off.
Chavez delineates the steps she took: therapy and medication and recounts her slow path to feeling like herself again.
There are many takeaways: slow down, say no, set boundaries, and always take more time for yourself.

I really, really love this memoir. Julie Chavez’s Everyone But Myself is a beautifully written story about the author’s struggles with anxiety and depression as she takes care of everyone but herself.



Julie is a wife, mother, sister, daughter and school librarian who says yes to everyone because that makes her a good mom and person, right? But somewhere along the way she stopped saying yes to herself.  When a health scare triggers panic attacks and near debilitating anxiety, Julie is terrified she will never recover.  So begins her journey to reevaluate her life, share her challenges and find the help she needs.


Julie takes a difficult time for her and her family and turns it into an incredibly relatable, hopeful and funny (yes, funny) story. Whether you have ever struggled with anxiety yourself, know someone who does or just feel overwhelmed by trying to do it all, I highly recommended EVERYONE BUT MYSELF.



Thank you to @netgalley, @zibbybooks and @juliewriteswords for the preview e-ARC.

Each of us have chaos and busy lives. Julie Chavez shares her struggles open and honestly about her life and job. This book was a very interesting read. I really enjoyed the topic and was able to take some pointers away from the book. This will be a great book club selection pick as the discussion questions will be endless.

In this debut book by Julie Chavez we get an up close and personal look at the life of a working mom in the middle of a mid-mom crisis. This book was a serious yet humorous look at anxiety and depression that I feel many women will relate to. The pressure to put everyone else first can lead to burnout, anxiety, depression, feelings of being 'less', and even physical problems. It brings to light such a serious topic that is so prevalent in society today, where women feel compelled to 'do it all' even when the person putting pressure on us, is us.
Julie opens up about how it started, what was going on in her life, and the steps she took to take back control of her life and get back to the Julie that she was happy with. It was both informative and entertaining.
"Recess is not optional" and neither is this book.

Julie Chavez openly shares the events that led her to experience symptoms of panic, anxiety, and depression and describes them in vivid detail. While I’m not a mother, the struggles of anxiety, depression, and trying to do it all resonated with me. I always appreciate books that allow me to understand better how others experience their daily lives and the struggles that can arise. Julie’s honesty about motherhood, work, and her marriage was refreshing, and she wrote about difficult topics in a way that aren’t too heavy to consume. This is a fast read, and I’m better for reading it.

EVERYONE BUT MYSELF by Julie Chavez is immediately relatable, encouraging, and a rousing great read. Struggling mightily with conflicting roles of mother, wife, and person, Chavez attempted to do it all with wildly unpredictable results that many of us have lived and then slowly, gradually, and consciously, she created a fresh approach that invited joy, wellbeing, and genuine connections with her beloveds, friends, and life. I felt transformed by reading the journey of a brave, articulate, and honest woman. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Thank you Zibby books for a memoir that is so relatable for many burnout women. Don't let the summary make it seem like this is just for women who are caregivers... a lot of the bigger themes resonate for women period. Putting the self last, always feeling like you have to help/give of yourself/say yes, the socialized expectation that this is what it feels like to be doing it all/having it all... whatever theme like this grabs you, let this memoir also grab you and open up a dialogue about how harmful this is to our well-being. I love the Julie Chavez titled this Everyone But Myself, that she put into words a lot of what many of us live (and also a lot of what I teach in a human development course), and that she bravely shared themes on anxiety and mental health and well-being.

a great read for a book club open to these themes and for engaging friends and loved ones in some meaningful talks. Recommended.

“I’d raised my hand because volunteering—showing up, helping out, making life easy, paying close attention—was one of the many ways I scored myself on my all-consuming mission to be a Good Mom.”

This is the perfect read for the mom who is stretched thin from all the pressures and demands that come along with being a woman and a mom in this day and age. Julie Chavez gives us a raw and honest look at her mental health struggles starting with an anxiety attack when her husband was away on a business trip all the way through the help she received from therapists and medication that got her through her darkest days. Her story is relatable even if you haven’t experienced the mental health struggles she has. And throughout Chavez’s humor shines through.

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Read if you like:
Memoirs of worn out moms
Normalizing mental health help
Humor interspersed between heavy topics

Julie Chavez is a mother of two, a wife and kept too much on her plate. Faced with panic attacks and depression, Julie finds that seeking help is often easier said then done. I liked the unfiltered truth, the raw honesty, and learning about her journey. As a mom of two teenage girls, there are more areas of Everyone But Myself, that I found relatable and sections I could have easily written myself. Julie acknowledged her privilege more than once and I appreciated that fact because what I often find in this style of memoir, is the authors inability to understand that their journey isn't easily attainable by all. For moms feeling burnt out, overwhelmed and anxious, Everyone But Myself will show you that you're not alone.

Thank you to Zibby Books for the gifted ARC.

This resonated strongly with me because, like Chavez, I’m in the thick of life with kids, work, family, friends, sports and all the extra social expectations.

Chavez shares how anxiety comes upon her like a sneaker wave and she finds herself balling inside a cold doctors hard plastic room bed on top of dry crackly paper. She then works hard and the best way she can to decipher what is going on. How did this supposed light switch just flip?

There’s no doubt that mothers and women in general are working to and beyond the max. We continue to take things on our plate until often we are deep under water-me included-and I felt so seen.

While I don’t struggle with anxiety the stories in this book were definitely my reality. I have a lot of compassion for Chavez and love that she put her feelings into words so succinctly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zibby Books for the advance e-copy of this book.

Julie Chavez balances the darkest moment of her life as a parent with light and bright humor as she takes us on her journey of recovery, rebalancing, and claiming her space as a wife and mother who learns the value of setting boundaries, letting go of the reins a bit, and embracing the gift that came through a paralyzing experience. This is an easy-going read that will appeal to mothers in particular!