Review of How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson

Jenny Lawson's self-help book is comforting, practical, and frank; while the content may not be revolutionary, her personal approach, humor, and candor are delightful and reassuring. Readers looking for coping tools will also know they are not alone in facing challenges.

This is my first Jenny Lawson read. In this gently reassuring self-help book, she explores, as the book cover details, Tips and Tricks That Kept [Her] Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of [Her]self. Her depression is treatment resistant, so she has explored various avenues to getting by and getting through each day, pursuing creativity and continuing to write.

Lawson is vulnerable in sharing her mental health struggles; she is practical with her approaches to coping with various challenges; and she's often funny, revealing absurd, awkward, hilarious moments in her life.

The measures Lawson highlights don't feel revelatory, yet her exploration of, personal experience with, and evaluation of their power and success feel like a friend sharing heartfelt, lived advice. I would imagine that the audience of this book might skew relatively young, and readers might not be familiar with some of the keys to Lawson's coping. Even if the reader is aware of the techniques and approaches laid out here, Lawson's comforting, frank presentation makes clear that anyone coping with depression, doubt, or down days is not alone; the world is made up of people working through issues and facing challenges. Lawson emphasizes that we all deserve grace and empathy, and that perfectionism should not be the goal, but finding joy and getting by are.

I listened to an audiobook version of this short title (it's 288 pages), read by the author, through Libby and my library.

More from Jenny Lawson

Lawson is also the author of Furiously Happy, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Broken, and You Are Here.