Reddit mentions of Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

For anyone suffering from depression or mental illness, please know that there is absolutely help out there. Yes, maybe you have tried a lot of medications before, but maybe you’re new to this battle and need a little bit of help. Here are some things that have helped me:

-Friends and family
-seeing my doctor and being open with them about my feelings
-Reading (I’ll link some wonderful books down below).
-Being outside. Whether you’re walking, running, gardening or whatever. Being outside especially during a sunny day is wonderful.
-podcasts: The Hilarious World of Depression is a great podcast to listen to.
-meditation
-Believing in and being consistent with my medication.
-decent diet
-getting enough sleep

Here are some amazing books that have helped me:

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250077028/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_F6kZAbDERXVNH

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir https://www.amazon.com/dp/0425261018/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_86kZAb5RJPPGJ

You Are Here: An Owner's Manual for Dangerous Minds https://www.amazon.com/dp/125011988X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_o7kZAb6QVETZH

Here is a link to the authors blog: http://thebloggess.com

Theres a lot of self help involved in mental illness. That’s the only way we survive. We can’t expect someone to be able to fix us. We can only try to understand and be kind to ourselves and know most importantly that depression lies and deceives us.

“Without the dark there isn’t light. Without the pain there is no relief. And I remind myself that I’m lucky to be able to feel such great sorrow, and also such great happiness. I can grab on to each moment of joy and live in those moments because I have seen the bright contrast from dark to light and back again. I am privileged to be able to recognize that the sound of laughter is a blessing and a song, and to realize that the bright hours spent with my family and friends are extraordinary treasures to be saved, because those same moments are a medicine, a balm. Those moments are a promise that life is worth fighting for, and that promise is what pulls me through when depression distorts reality and tries to convince me otherwise.”
Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

“To all who walk the dark path, and to those who walk in the sunshine but hold out a hand in the darkness to travel beside us: Brighter days are coming. Clearer sight will arrive. And you will arrive too. No, it might not be forever. The bright moments might be for a few days at a time, but hold on for those days. Those days are worth the dark.”
Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

I'm not sure if you get insomnia with the rough mental health but I tend to. So I started having a routine of once a week, changing the bed, spraying the sheets with my favourite room spray and then having a shower (I'm not much of a bath person) where I get to use all of the nice shower gel/bath oils/whipped soap that I normally hoarde for fear of them running out, then after that curl up in bed with a nice hot drink and a good book and avoid any screen time. It helps me to take a break from the world for a bit and there is something about fresh sheets that helps me sleep a bit better. I don't know if you read, but this book at least really made me laugh when I was at one of my lowest points, Furiously Happy

I went to one AA meeting when I first got clean and never went back. I understand people have found support and success in it but to me, personally, I felt it only increased the stigma of drug addicts as these broken hopeless people barely hanging on by a thread. It's an outdated system that relies on little science or attempting to progress the participants and relies more on holding people in place and focusing on the past. Instead I just worked towards becoming a normal person. Here are some of the resources I used:

r/Fitness - Getting Started: Exercise is probably the #1 thing that will aid you in recovering. It can help your brain learn to produce normal quantities of dopamine again as well as improve your heath, mood, well being and confidence.

Meetup: You can use this site to find people in your area with similar interests. I found a hiking group and a D&D group on here which I still regularly join.

Craigslist: Same as above - look for groups, activities, volunteer work, whatever.

Diet

This will be the other major player in your recovery. Understanding your diet will allow you to improve your health,mood, energy, and help recover whatever damage the drugs may have done to your body.

How Not To Die Cookbook

Life Changing Foods

The Plant Paradox

Power Foods For The Brain

Mental Health

Understand whats going on inside your head and how to deal with it is also an important step to not only recovery but enjoying life as a whole.

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

The Emotional Life Of Your Brain

Furiously Happy

The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works

Educational

If you are like me you probably felt like a dumbass when you first got clean. I think retraining your brain on learning, relearning things you may have forgot after long term drug use, and just learning new things in general will all help you in recovery. Knowledge is power and the more you learn the more confident in yourself and future learning tasks you become.

Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to their History, Chemistry, Use, and Abuse

Why Nations Fails

Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud

The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century

Thinking, Fast and Slow

The Financial Peace Planner: A Step-by-Step Guide to Restoring Your Family's Financial Health

Continued Education / Skills Development

EdX: Take tons of free college courses.

Udemy: Tons of onine courses ranging from writing to marketing to design, all kinds of stuff.

Cybrary: Teach yourself everything from IT to Network Security skills

Khan Academy: Refresh on pretty much anything from highschool/early college.

There are many more resources available these are just ones I myself have used over the past couple years of fixing my life. Remember you don't have to let your past be a monkey on your back throughout the future. There are plenty of resources available now-a-days to take matters into your own hands.

*Disclaimer: I am not here to argue about anyone's personal feelings on AA**

Haggard AF Merry Fridaymas... [This is pretty cool] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250077028/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_G1MFAb54NC3G2)

Wheaton's Law, not a dick, just tired. u/booghawkins where ya been? I miss seeing my Louise around here ❤️

Oh, and I am going to see The Motherfucker With the Hat in SF tomorrow night!