Episode Details

Do you suffer from anxiety disorder? Depression? Intrusive thoughts? Obsessive compulsive disorder? Voluntary hair pulling? Avoidant personality disorder? Any of the above?

Well, Jenny Lawson suffers from all of the above. Tuberculosis too, according to her wonderful new book. It's an overwhelming way to live and only partly cured by being a global community leader for mental health through her wonderful blog (TheBloggess.com), her millions of followers, and her indie bookshop Nowhere Bookshop down in San Antonio, Texas.

Does Jenny Lawson do podcasts? Interviews? No, not really. She tells us at the beginning of the chat that she loves 3 Books so much that she wanted to come — lucky us, as 3 Bookers have been asking for this interview for years! — and she made herself cozy by calling me up from under her desk, in cozy clothes, post-beta-blockers, and with Hunter S. Tomcat providing animal therapy throughout.

Jenny is funny, crass, smart, and openhearted. She's struck a deep chord with her books Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Furiously Happy, You Are Here, and Broken. (All, I should mention, with the wonderful Amy Einhorn who's edited four of my books, too!)

Jenny and I talk about what a good editor does, reading in the freezer, stealing Stephen King, dollhouse therapy, mental health toolkits, LSD, what your kids will actually remember about you as a parent, and of course, Jenny's 3 most formative books.

Jenny is gracious and disarmingly truthful and she doesn't want her pain to go to waste. She is a beaming voice the world needs more of and today I am just so privileged to help her do just that.

Let's flip the page into Chapter 76 …

What You'll Learn:

• What does an editor do?

• How do you read horror books when you have anxiety?

• How do you open a bookshop?

• What is reading guilt?

• How can ketamine treat depression?

• How can we cultivate self care and self awareness if we have anxiety?

• What are intrusive thoughts?

• How does depression lie?

• What is a mental health toolkit?

• What is dollhouse therapy?

• How can we talk to our kids about mental illness?

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.3books.co/chapters/76

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3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 22-year-long quest to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter discusses the 3 most formative books of an inspiring person. Sample guests include: Brené Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, George Saunders, Angie Thomas, Daniels, Cheryl Strayed, Rich Roll, Soyoung the Variety Store Owner, Derek the Hype Man, Kevin the Bookseller, Vishwas the Uber Driv