International Day of Happiness: Furiously Happy

By: Jenny Lawson

4/5 🦊

It's kind of ironic to share a Jenny Lawson book on the International Day of Happiness, but it's also definitely not. It's no secret that Jenny Lawson suffers from chronic and severe depression and anxiety. She's very open about it both in her books and her blog. She's also open about all the treatments she's working on and changes she's attempting to make to better her mental health.

While it could completely define Jenny, she definitely doesn't let it. Her books are a mix of her life with mental illness and the most relatable and bizarre things ever. Oh, and her dad constantly gifts the weirdest taxidermy gifts. So, totally relatable.

I know I've said it so many times about so many books, but this book has made me feel so much less alone. I read it during my time in Boston, when I thought my anxious thoughts were abnormal and bizarre. Reading what Jenny has gone through made me look at my own life through a new pair of eyes. Not only did I realize what I was feeling wasn't abnormal in the sense that nobody else feels that way, but I also realized that it could be way worse. That I was allowing myself to wallow in self-pity when other were taking life by the horns and doing what they could to better themselves.

I've also talked about how I once thought I was the only one who had super awkward moments... reading Jenny's book showed me that that is most certainly not the case. This is one of the first books that I actually loved out loud at (the people on the train loved it, I'm sure), and it's also one that I still think about. Whenever I see taxidermy, I correlate it with Jenny Lawson, which is the sign of a super successful book in my opinion!