Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Written by: Jenny Lawson
Narrated by: Jenny Lawson
Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins 
Unabridged Audiobook

Jenny Lawson (a.k.a The Bloggess http://thebloggess.com/about/) had her latest book released last Tuesday September 22^nd, 2015 and I downloaded the audiobook first thing Tuesday morning.  I finished it in less than 20 hours (I have to work after all) because it was just that good!

She performed this book just as she did her first book Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) http://thebloggess.com/lets-pretend-this-never-happened-a-mostly-true-memoir/ and as much as I typically don’t care for author’s performing their own works, Jenny is actually very good at it.  Though it turns out that she’s only pretending to be good at it.

I have no doubt that this book is many things to many different people.  This isn’t a story about a character in a fictional time/place no these are vignettes from her life and the (mis)adventures she’s had living through all of the things in her life that could stand in her way…if she let them.  That’s the key to both of her books to me.  Everyone (I think) has things in their life, events that happened to them or others in their lives that could stop us from going forward and living our lives.  The difference is how you deal with them and whether you choose to let events and circumstance dictate your life or whether you go forward in spite of them.

This book stands as a bright example of someone who has every reason and opportunity to just lay down and quit…yet every day (hour, minute) refuses to do so.

What stands out the most to me is one piece of advice she related when she was struggling to perform her first audiobook.  After struggling and performing poorly she reached out to friend Neil Gaiman and explained she wasn’t doing well and was afraid she’d not be able to tell her own story.  His advice: “Pretend you are good at it.” Now that hit home.  How often are we our own worst enemy?  How much easier is it to believe all the negatives our mind conjures?  What a difference could it make if instead of believing that we can’t…that we can?

I really enjoyed this audiobook and hope to meet Jenny later this week on her book tour, if for no other reason than to say ‘thank you.’  It was well worth the time and Audible credit, I highly recommend this to anyone who needs an example to compare how much worse life can be and how not to give up!