How to Be Okay When Nothing is Okay by Jenny Lawson is a 288 page book published by Penguin Life in March of 2026.

Genre:

Nonfiction, Self-Help, Humor

Description:

Warm, insightful, and witty, the first book of advice from New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson—aka the Bloggess

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.

My Thoughts:

While I have enjoyed Lawson’s other works (memoirs and coloring book) more, this collection of essays with actionable tips will be a wonderful resource to flip open during a bout of anxiety/depression/self-doubt/etc. It features her trademark humor sprinkled throughout discussions of serious topics. Oh, and her drawings, too!

I preordered my copy of this book from Nowhere Bookshop, the independent bookstore in San Antonio, Texas owned by the author herself. My version came signed with a page of silly stickers. Also a cutout of the delightfully absurd figure on the book’s cover, who is not quite the right shape to use as a bookmark, but who I employed in that way anyway since he brought me joy. I highlighted several lines and passages throughout the book—those that spoke to my own personal experiences, the ones with tips I think my children might possibly be able to make use of, and the ones that made me laugh.

If you have ever struggled with your mental wellbeing (probably everyone) and you like to laugh (hopefully most people), then you definitely need to check out Lawson’s work, even her social media pages. She is, as author John Scalzi says in his blurb for this book, an actual national treasure!