REVIEW: How to Be Okay When Nothing is Okay

By Denise @ Life With No Plot on October 5, 2026 • ( 0 )

About the Book

Title: How to Be Okay When Nothing is Okay

Author: Jenny Lawson

Series: none

Genre: Humor, Memoir, Self Help

Pages: 288

Edition Read: Hardcover Library Book

Dates Read: August 13 – 23, 2026

Blurb: Jenny Lawson is full of contradictions. She’s a celebrated author but battles self-doubt, paralysis, and anxiety. She’s an award-winning humorist but struggles with treatment-resistant depression. The questions people most often ask her are, “How do you do it? How do you keep going even when it feels impossible? How do you keep creating?” This book is her answer.

In How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay, Jenny shares more than one hundred humorous, heartfelt, and genuine tools and tricks that she relies on to keep her going even when her brain isn’t working properly due to depression, anxiety, and ADHD. She also offers tips to stay passionate and focused on creative endeavors, especially when everything around you is saying to give up.

With chapters like “Wash Your Brain More Than You Wash Your Bra” (sleep, you beautiful human), “Working on Easy Mode Is Still Working” (asking for accommodations is okay!), “Celebrate Good Times, Come On!” (make it a habit to celebrate the good things), and many more, How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay is a balm and companion, reminding us all that we are not alone. It’s for anyone who struggles with self-doubt, guilt, motivation, and mental blocks and wants to rekindle their passion for creating. Funny, simple, empathetic, and full of hope, it will encourage you not to just survive but to find and curate joy in the face of difficult times.

Review

My husband saw this book sitting on my desk, read the title, and was a little concerned. He kept checking on me all day lol. I love that man!

I also love Jenny Lawson. I’ve followed her on The Bloggess for several years and have read several of her previous books. She is very funny, but she’s also very real and upfront about her struggles, many of which I have myself. What I don’t have is her quick wit and turn of phrase. She will say something very heartfelt and profound, and then immediately hit you with something that will make you laugh.

I mean, one of her chapter titles is “Are You Legitimately Drowning in Existential Angst or Do You Just Need Nachos?” I think most of the time, nachos are the answer. No matter what the question is. Reading Lawson’s books has made me feel better about some of the craziness that floats around in my head, and the fact that so many other people feel the same way makes me glad that I’m not alone in this.

I will leave you with this, from the first page of the book. I took a picture of it and sent it to several people, and now I am sharing it with my blog people.