I’ve just finished reading Matt Haig’s latest release ‘Reasons to Stay Alive’ and it’s really pretty awesome! I’ve never read a book that’s focused solely on mental illness (health, or however you chose to determine the subject!)

What’s great about Matt’s book is that it’s a mixture of brutal reflections, honest thoughts and attempts to understand the way that depression and anxiety consumes us. But it also consistently tells you that it is possible to get through even the darkest, harshest, cruelest, confusing battles… 

I’ve never written a book review, and this isn’t my intention of this blog post, so I sorry if it comes across that way! But I really am a fan of this book, I cannot fathom how incredibly challenging it must have been for Matt to write this book, and to share it with the world (and of course to battle with the horrible thing that is depression!)

Matt has such a sassy, yet wonderful insight into battling such a cruel illness, and it is (for me) very relatable – for me I don’t actually suffer with depression, it’s post-traumatic stress disorder that’s got me real bad, but still I am able to relate to Matt’s writing. I think even if you don’t struggle with any mental illnesses this is still a fantastic, insightful and honest read – it has such a human feel, it’s almost like talking to a friend about all of the things that you want to say but are too scared (or don’t know how) to say. 

What I really love is that Matt’s personality, taste and all that other stuff show through his writing – reminding us that even though we have to fight daily battles with depression, anxiety or whatever – it is still possible to stay human, to stay in love with things that truly matter and shape us as individuals. And all the Keats quotes pretty much hit me everytime – Matt ya are an ace writer!

I had a list of things I wanted to write in this post about cool things that I love about this book – but 1) I don’t wanna let any secrets out (read it yourself!) And 2) I kind of selfishly want to keep what I like to myself, so that when I’m feeling down I have something to indulge in!

Writing is such a personal thing, and as Matt has reminded me through this book – it is a product of our own minds. The same minds that can be controlled by awful illnesses, the same minds that can be consumed by destructive, life-threatening thoughts – these minds can produce something as ace as this book – and that’s a pretty wonderful thing.

Find out more about Matt’s book here:

http://www.matthaig.com/reasons-to-stay-alive-2/