Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

by Jenny Lawson

I can tell you that “Just cheer up” is almost universally looked at as the most unhelpful depression cure ever. It’s pretty much the equivalent of telling someone who just had their legs amputated to “just walk it off.” Some people don’t understand that for a lot of us, mental illness is a severe chemical imbalance rather just having “a case of the Mondays.”

The point is, sometimes shitty things happen, and sometimes they don’t. My rule is “Enjoy the non-shitty things now because shitty things are coming.” And vice versa.

Someone once said that if you make something no one hates, no one will ever love it either, and that’s true.

I wish someone had told me this simple but confusing truth: Even when everything’s going your way you can still be sad. Or anxious. Or uncomfortably numb. Because you can’t always control your brain or your emotions even when things are perfect.

Also “tank dog” is a fairly awesome name for an armadillo.

Don’t make the same mistakes that everyone else makes. Make wonderful mistakes. Make the kind of mistakes that make people so shocked that they have no other choice but to be a little impressed.

VICTOR: I like your skin because it keeps your organs from falling out onto the carpet.

When I was a kid I never won anything and when I mentioned it to my mom she looked up from her book and pointed out that I had once been the youngest person in the entire world.