Furiously Happy: a lesson about how we are all a bit fucked up but it is all good

 A few weeks ago, I was in an Oxfam charity shop (we have TONS of charity shops in the UK, which makes it incredibly easy to give time and money to good causes!) and I found this book with this ecstatic raccoon on the cover.

I decided to buy it, just because of that weird raccoon that claimed to be furiously happy, and that was probably life sending me a sign. 

 

Let’s talk about the author. Her name is Jenny Lawson and she is an American writer and blogger. She published her first book (Let’s Pretend This Never Happened) in 2012 and, just a few weeks later, it was the number one New York Times bestseller. She also runs www.thebloggess.com

That woman is different because she gave a voice to all people suffering from mental illness, which goes from anxiety to OCD, from low mood to phobias. And she did it by talking about her battles, her victories, her daily life and struggles. And she is funny, which makes it less dramatic I guess but no less serious.

I think we all have problems and those problems sometime lead us to slip into a big hole: a dark place that professionals will call “mental illness”. Three years ago, I had no idea what a panic attack was. Today, I know way too well what they are and I am fighting them with all of my might. Life threw lemons at me and, though my eyes are hurting from the acid juices, I am learning to make lemonade out of it.

What resonated in me the most was the bit where Jenny Lawson says that we are all trying to master living life but no one really knows what they are doing because we were not sent any manual or instructions. We envy people that we see on Instagram or in magazines but that is the –fake- bright side of their existences. We don’t know what is happening backstage and the highly probable truth is that those people are struggling just as bad as we are.

This book made me less ashamed of my panic attacks. Because loads of people have it, some have even other troubles on top and we are all trying our best at living life. I feel like embracing my weird and quirky side and keeping in mind that my battles, my scars, my life story make me who I am. And you know what they say about life, right? No one makes it out alive!