If you are my friend or my husband, you have heard my rant many times over about what happened to me a few weeks ago and how awful it was. You don’t need to know who or what, but f&%k her and all the bullshit she spewed my way. What you do need to know is how to help yourself feel better because therapy alone ain't always enough. (Keep reading 'til you get to the funny part below….)
I am listening to Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, in which Jenny explores her lifelong battle with mental illness.
I have my own little list of what makes me feel better when I am feeling low or dealing with anxiety, but Jenny’s list is so much better, like off-the-charts better.
My nice and tidy list goes something like this….
Family
Friends
Colleagues
A tubby
A shower
Nature
Podcasts
Audio Books
Cleaning
Crying
My dog
Wine
Whine
Comfy clothes
Yummy smelling lotions
Therapy - yes therapists have therapists
My Mom
That list isn’t very inspiring - it’s just comforting. So I decided to buy a funny book to lift my spirits. Comfort is good but sometimes you just need a damn good laugh. I found this book that I thought would just be humorous, but as luck would have it, the book is about Jenny and her diagnoses of about 15 different disorders as determined by therapists and psychiatrists. For all the meds and behavior mods she tries, she has other, sometimes better ways of handling anxiety.
Here are some of her super-way-better-awesomer-than-mine tactics...
Carry around a taxidermy creature as a service animal
Confessing you have some disorder that ends in mania because people automatically back off
Embrace your crazy
Get an eating disorder to compensate for the lack of control over your emotions
Medication
Shrink visits
Behavioral Therapy
Be painfully honest about how crazy you are
Hide in bathrooms and under tables at important events
Let it control you when you have no other choice
Or try being furiously happy - it’s not a cure for mental illness but a weapon designed to counter it.
If you are having a moment, or a week, or a year, buy this book. I had to turn it off on my way to a session today with a client because I was laughing to the point of hysteria. I had so many tears running down my face it looked like I was hysterical in a scary I-am-falling-apart kind of way. I think Jenny Lawson could replace meds for some people, she’s that funny.
Now that we have explored my list vs her list, what’s on your list?