I just finished reading Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, the book named for a new mantra about how to approach life in the face of depression, also about two ecstatic-looking taxidermied raccoons. (For more information about the existence of TWO such raccoons, read the book.)(Is the plural of raccoon just raccoon, or is spell check on the fritz?)
In this, her second memoir, Lawson, aka The Bloggess describes all her various mental illnesses and weird disorders, ones that are much more common that I ever thought. Her stories about dealing with depression and social anxiety are inspiring, and yes, the great message here is that no one suffering from them alone despite how you feel at the time. Disorders manifest differently in different people, but they’re there to some degree in everyone, so talk about them rather than hide from them. Or hide and talk at the same time, whatever.
Dermatillomania. I’ve never heard that name before or come across it in all my mad medical google searches, but it’s a thing apparently, so I should probably apologize to a certain person for claiming I’m allergic to him, therefore making me scratch off my entire arm. And who knew there are so many sleep disorders? Granted I’d never be able to get tested for any, because I’d never fall asleep in the first place.
“A funny book about horrible things,” is probably the most accurate subtitle for a book that I’ve ever seen. Yes, depression can make a person want to cry and hide and pull their hair out literally, but this same person will eventually come out of it and use her remarkable storytelling abilities to educate people and make them laugh at the same time.
Read this book because it could change/save your life. In the very least you’ll learn something about mental illness…and taxidermy.