Reading: You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day

"There are enough negative forces in the world - don't let the pessimistic voice that lives inside you get away with that stuff, too. That voice is NOT a good roommate." - Felicia Day

Normally I like to take a beat before writing up a review/post about a book I've just read. I give myself a day to get my thoughts in order. At the very least I wait until I'm in the mood to write/edit that same day. Not this time. After reading this book I felt so compelled to write about it that I didn't bother to get up and find my phone cord. I texted myself the above picture so I could get right to work.

The first half of You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is as adorably funny as Felicia Day herself. The stream-of-consciousness-style writing (which is a lot harder than it seems) was fun and it felt like she was a friend having a casual chat with me. As I read on, however, I knew there was more to the story.

Aside: I have had my own personal struggles with severe anxiety and depression. That, coupled with my endearing OCD, has made certain things in life especially difficult for me. I haven't mentioned this explicitly before on the blog because I'm afraid. Sharing is my number one fear. "But you have a blog, so that can't be true." You got me there, but is my name anywhere on here? My picture? Is anyone reading this? Probably not. I take absolute comfort in that fact. I'm far too big a coward to share my thoughts, words, or any of my creative works with real people who might criticize me or make me feel small. That is the job of my very effective brain.

I've listened to, read about, and watched famous people and people I admire talk about their struggles with mental illness in the past. I even raved about Amy Poehler's description of insomnia on this very blog. This was different. Felicia's experience was so completely different from mine, but the raw honesty that she attacked it with made me cry. Not because I related, but because I EMPATHIZED! I don't know if you're aware of this, but empathy is one of the greatest human characteristics, and it's also one of the hardest things to find in a remote audience (ie the internet). It might be the very problem with this platform that I generally take comfort in.

I may be rambling (again, not a lot of forethought went into this). All in all, I want to say that Felicia Day's book is so heartfelt and open, funny and emotional, weird and quirky that it has inspired me to make my life better in numerous ways. One of those ways is to try, just a little harder, to share. "No one could make me be anxious without my consent."

Felicia. Thank you.

#book #nerd #recommendation #non