Favorites Friday: Jenny Lawson, AKA The Bloggess

I’m going to be totally honest here: I had a rough winter. You see, I reached my goal weight last August, and suddenly I didn’t have my “Fat Barrier” holding back all the internal issues I’d had inside me for years. I had the worst case of anxiety and depression I’d ever had. I had days at work where I would all of a sudden start sobbing and need to get OUT of there. Luckily I have a very understanding boss and coworkers, and I could escape when I needed.

Things were so bad, laughing and smiling seemed alien to me. Being alone at home in the mornings was torture.  It was cold, and snowy, and dark, both outside and inside me. Years ago (I’m talking before I graduated high school), my first “boyfriend” broke up with me, and for weeks the only thing that kept me from lying in bed crying all day was watching funny movies or tv shows. This time? Most of that didn’t work. There were, however, two things that made me laugh in this very dark time: binge-watching Parks and Recreation (hilarious without all the meanness of other comedies PLUS CHRIS PRATT) and reading Jenny Lawson’s book, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.

You might know Jenny as her online persona, The Bloggess. I’d occasionally read her blog before but stumbled upon her book one dark Wednesday where I basically had a panic attack and left work early. The Hubs was home and whisked me off to Barnes & Noble where we I had and iced chai and browsed the anxiety books. I grabbed a book there (which I never actually read) and then headed over to the comedy section where I found this:

That night, lying in bed, I sniggled for the first time in more than a month. (Okay, so Dictionary.com tells me that “sniggled” means to fish for eels. Who knew? I’m using it as a portmanteau of “snort” and “giggled”. There were no eels in my bedroom. At least not that I know of.) I sniggled so loudly The Hubs came and checked on me.

This book is crazy, irreverent, hilarious and incredibly uplifting. Jenny Lawson is this flawed everywoman antihero. She has a way of explaining the absurdities of life in an incredibly charming, accessible way. I think anyone who has, at one time or another, ever felt like they don’t want to get out of bed in the morning can relate to her offbeat humor. The only caveat would be that there is some foul language so if that isn’t your thing, avoid this book.

Spring and summer were much easier on me, but when I would have a day where I just didn’t feel right I’d pop over to TheBloggess.com and Jenny’s humor would cheer me up. It’s amazing to me how a random person on the internet can have an impact on so many people. She really is an inspiration to so many. So imagine how excited I was when I saw she was putting out another book! I immediately went to Amazon.com and pre-ordered Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things. She even made a book trailer.

On her website, Jenny writes this about Furiously Happy:

FURIOUSLY HAPPY SHIPS IN SEPTEMBER BUT YOU SHOULD GO AHEAD AND PRE-ORDER IT NOW SO IT COMES AS A SURPRISE GIFT TO YOURSELF.

I placed the order in July and I basically forgot about it until it arrived, so THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED and it was FABULOUS! Here I am, mimicking Rory the Raccoon:

I’m about 1/3 of the way through this book, and I was sniggling reading THE VERY FIRST PAGE. I’ve already recommended it to three people, and now I’m recommending it to you.

So thank you, Jenny Lawson. Thank you for being one of the few people who could make me laugh when laughter seemed like it would never come again (it always does). You don’t even know I exist, but you have impacted me for the better in so many ways. Laughter truly is the best medicine. Stay Furiously Happy!