Reasons to Stay Alive

FINALLY A book about depression that makes sense, that those with depression will read and sit nodding their heads and agreeing all the way through it No psychobabble here from Psychologists who have never experienced depression just real raw telling of Matt Haig s journey with the dreaded black dog This book should be given or bought by EVERYONE battling depression, or has a loved one battling it It s everywhere you know Matt so simply explains how it feels, he is so darn honest and all of what [...]

If you are doubting to read this book, read this quote The world is increasingly designed to depress us.Happiness isn t very good for the economy If we were happy with what we had, why would we need How do you sell an anti ageing moisturizer You make someone worry about ageing.How do you get people to vote for a political party You make them worry about immigration.How do you get them to buy insurance By making them worry about everything How do you get them to have plastic surgery By highlight [...]

4.5 5 stars If you ve suffered from depression and or anxiety yourself at some point in your life or you know someone that has and it s very likely that you do this book is an absolute must read.

One of the most beautifully written books I have ever read Inspiration almost drips off the pages It s honest and vivid enough to make difference even for people who have done no personal trips to the hellish planet of Depression.And the imagery Don t get me started on it or I won t get any sleep today I love when concepts are mixed with guidelines and wisdom of someone who has been there and done all that.I can t imagine why I never knew about this author before It s a sure must read and a must [...]

I received an ARC of this book from Canongate My usual technique, when reading an ARC, is to read 5 pages, then take a view as to whether I m going to actually read the book With REASONS TO STAY ALIVE, I d passed the 50 page mark before I remembered to take a view, and by then I was down the rabbit hole Matt Haig is a marvellous writer limpid tender passionate In this memoir and it s short, barely 200 pages long , he manages to articulate, both the bleakness of depression and the means of dealin [...]

I won this proof on twitter from Matt and though I don t often review books here, I thought that probably I owed him that Not just for giving me a free copy, but for writing the book in the first place.Let me be honest, I started reading this and thought This book isn t written for me But then I thought There are people I would like to read this, because it feels so familiar to me I would like to give it to people who are close to people with depression and anxiety, but don t really understand i [...]

Beautiful Informative Powerful.Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge Notes 34 A book about mental illness

4.5 starsIf you re easily triggered by descriptions of other people s mental illnesses, I would advice against reading this during low points There s some very in depth descriptions of his dark thoughts and the panic and depression he felt, and it was really uncomfortable to confront I think the title misled me because I picked this book up on a bad night hoping it would be uplifting, but I almost immediately had to put it back down when I realized it wasn t going to help at all, just add to my [...]

So good that it should be required reading In schools For GPs Everyone Haig says that each mind breaks differently, but I think his heartfelt words will say mean something to anyone who has felt anxiety or depression Some sections were so real that I had to put the book aside for a while It s brilliant and hopeful My thanks to Matt Haig for sharing so much of himself It s not something most of us are able to do.

Not too long ago I was approached by Canongate about this book They had seen that I made a recommendation video on my YouTube channel for books relating to mental health and because of this they thought I would enjoy this book Mental health awareness is something I consider to be of the utmost importance having suffered with depression and anxiety from a young age this is definitely a topic I hold dear to my heart.Now I have to be honest I m not one for reading non fiction, in fact last year I t [...]

Now, listen If you have ever believed a depressive wants to be happy, you are wrong They could not care less about the luxury of happiness They just want to feel an absence of pain To escape a mind on fire, where thoughts blaze and smoke like old possessions lost to arson To be normal A meaningful book about depression, anxiety, and creating reasons to stay alive Like a modern day William Styron, Matt Haig shares his experience with depression and anxiety and how he fought to overcome suicidal t [...]

3.5 stars.I enjoyed reading this It was such an honest and personal account of what Matt Haig went through I could really relate to this but reading some parts were hard because of that I kind of wish I read this when I was in a better mental space because I might have gotten out of it but I think he did a really good job I especially liked a passage that I have highlighted below about depression I marked it with a to differentiate it from the other quotes I hope people come forward and feel b [...]

I feel like this book is a friend I very much needed.

A fuller review MAY follow but my initial reactions to this book, just after finishing it, you can find here.It is ironic is that the right word I wonder that the author who gave me my first reason to stay alive, at a time when I struggled to find one with his previous novel, The Humans then went on to write openly, elegantly and with no holds barred, about his own experiences of depression and anxiety And called it Reasons to Stay Alive If I was better with words myself I could probably find a [...]

Talking about depression is something we should do of I want to see the shift in thinking and mental health be accepted as the burden that it is There s some great stuff in this book, an example of which is the idea that physical illness Is something you have, mental illness becomes something you are There s no detaching from it.I think trying to talk someone about of depression with rational reasons is a big waste of time They ve probably tried and failed themselves a thousand times This book [...]

Wherever you are, at any moment, try and find something beautiful A face, a line out of a poem, the clouds out of a window, some graffiti, a wind farm Beauty cleans the mind This was really good I almost read it in one sitting, every time a chapter ended, I wanted to continue I got this for christmas and, as I am dealing with an anxiety disorder and depressive episodes, I wanted to read this for quite some time but I didn t know what to expect And even now after reading it, I can t properly tell [...]

Wait about my video about mental illness, this book made me decide to do it, to come out and dare to say it outloud, yes I have depression and anxiety disorder, I am fighting them everyday, and I relate to every single thing in this book even though there are some differences Gonna talk to you soon about it all till then, keep fighting, keep hoping Life is not as bad as it may seem some days

I m so conflicted, and I feel really bad rating this two stars Maybe it s like a 2.5 for me I do genuinely appreciate a lot of things about this, but at the same time I just couldn t connect Honestly, if you re planning to read this my lack of enjoyment over this book is probably a me problem and you should just go for it I m just not one of the people who get this book, I guess.Just to jot things down quickly ish Things I enjoyed about this Matt Haig brought up books a lot I understand this, a [...]

When you are depressed you feel alone, and that no one is going through quite what you are going through You are so scared of appearing in any way mad you internalise everything, and you are so scared that people will alienate you further you clam up and don t speak about it, which is a shame, as speaking about it helps.Words spoken or written are what connect us to the world, and so speaking about it to people, and writing about this stuff, helps connect us to each other, and to our true selves [...]

Right now, I don t want to give a rating Reason Because I listened to the audiobook for the first half and only for the Second half accompied by having the physical book with me This resulted in me often being very tired while listening to it on audible, thus feeling I was awake and noticing what I read in the second half And I don t know if only because of that, I liked the Second half way What I generally can say this book is something you should give your parents, siblings, friends, everyo [...]

This is a fantastic book I ve been meaning to read it for a long time, but it was certainly worth the wait I suffer from the illness myself, and this book is so much better than most self help books.Travelling through, Matt Haig s journey and experience with severe anxiety and depression, this account manages to portray an understandable and readable insight into the illness If you suffer from this or know someone who does, this book is an essential read Even if you don t, it still makes for bri [...]

Rightly mentioned in the book, The fame and money do not immunise you from mental health problems Depression sucks It deteriorates you internally and keep on spreading like a virus without causing any prominent symptoms Once you get dwell in this deep lethal sea of darkness i.eDepression, it s hard to overcome, one feel helpless, lonely, sad, lost, purposeless life, few make suicidal attempts but one should live, cope up from this survive from the lethal sea by finding reasons to stay alive Prec [...]

Reasons to read this book 1 You have suffered are suffering depression and or anxiety.2 You know someone who has suffered is suffering depression and or anxiety.If you re asking the question Is this book for me , then the answer is simply, statistically speaking, that this book is for everybody There isn t a single person who wouldn t benefit from the candid insights and sincerity it contains Matt Haig has given us a book that is half memoir, half life raft, spoken with a voice that combines hon [...]

Finished my first book of 2017 3This book is a memoir and a kind of a self help book at the same time , Matt Haig opens up about his long life suffer from deppression and anxiety.Brilliant.hopeful.powerful informative and beautifully written.This book should be required reading in schools ,UNIs everywhere.Loved the way he wrote in this book , the way he described anxiety and deppression , i felt his pain throughout his words and that s what made me cry.Loved his book recommandations , loved how [...]

MINDS ARE UNIQUE They go wrong in unique ways My mind went wrong in a slightly different way to how other minds go wrong Our experience overlaps with other people s, but it is never exactly the same experience I first came across Matt Haig on Twitter via some articles he wrote about living with depression, I then read The Humans and loved it and was looking forward to reading Reasons to Stay Alive.Reasons to Stay Alive is part memoir, part self help book with some analysis of depression, suicide [...]

Matt Haig s memoir Reasons to Stay Alive celebrates life humbly and earnestly in the drowning deep of anxiety and depression It s a must read.As someone who s also suffering from depression and anxiety, even talking to my doctor at times makes me feel like a specimen under a microscope I feel out of place and alone, like a time traveler from the past lost in a fast moving future I feel stuck and drowning and no one hears me screaming.But when I read this book, it was as if for a glimpse the clou [...]

There is no standard normal Normal is subjective There are seven billion versions of normal on this planet If I m very conflicted about how to rate this book I ve had quite a few problems with it But it feels wrong somehow to blast someone s personal account of their struggle with mental illness Because this is what this book is, a memoir I feel that the title and the marketing were slightly misleading to me as I went into thinking it will go into the existential question that opens the summary [...]

And it felt like a winter machine That you go through and thenYou catch your breath and winter starts againAnd everyone else is spring boundAnd when I chose to liveThere was no joyIt s just a line I crossedIt wasn t worth the pain my death would costSo I was not lost or found Dar Williams, After All Reasons to Stay Alive is a sort of memoir, a sort of letter to self, a bit of a self help book It talks frankly about depression and anxiety, trying to put into words the sensations it can cause, the [...]

You are walking around with your head on fire and no one can see the flames I can now fully say Matt Haig is my soulmate When I read The Humans by him I had this strong feeling about him having been through depressions or dark times This book is about depressions which the author himself has experienced Matt Haig has this amazing talent of calming me down through his writing He picks up his sentences in a way that make me feel understood There is no right way to have depression, or to have a pan [...]

5 starsI highly recommend this book to everyone The author explains how he suffers with depression and anxiety and the improvements he has made in learning to live with both of these issues Who among us has not felt depressed or anxious Matt Haig offers some wonderful straight forward ways of coping, for example, some of my favorites 3 00 am is not the time to make life decisions and do not believe everything you think In this cold, very cold, and depressing winter, write down a few pearls of hi [...]