How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay

Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself

$15.99 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Life
On sale Mar 31, 2026 | 9780593833223
Sales rights: US, Canada, Open Mkt

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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.
"I didn't expect a book about mental health tips to involve a prolonged subplot about trying to steal a human skull from a hospital, and yet here we are. Jenny Lawson is a gift—funny, weird, and the exact right amount of unhinged."
—Jennette McCurdy - #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Half His Age and I'm Glad My Mom Died


"What Jenny offers here is solidarity in a thousand tiny forms. Tips that are hilarious and sacred. Stories that make you laugh out loud and also feel seen in your despair. This is a book for when you’re spiraling. When your brain is a jerk. When you’re grieving or exhausted or suddenly remembering the thing you said in seventh grade. Jenny doesn’t pretend her mess has been turned into meaning. She just makes space for all of life’s ridiculous truths so the rest of us don’t feel so alone."
—Kate Bowler, PhD, Duke professor, bestselling author, and host of the Everything Happens podcast

"I love this book. It is a cheese and charcuterie tray from the gods. Every entry is an amuse-bouche that is delicious for my creator brain. I need Jenny Lawson’s wisdom in my eyeholes for life, please."
—Felicia Day, New York Times bestselling author of one of Embrace Your Weird

"When the world (and your own brain) tells you to give up, this book refuses to let you stay in the shadows. With her signature wit and compassion, Jenny Lawson takes readers through the trenches of being human. Her words are a mirror for the messy, beautiful parts of life—a reminder that even in the darkest moments, hope can still be found. This book will save lives." —Kate Baer, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of What Kind Of Woman

"No one writes about serious topics in a funny way like Jenny Lawson. But here’s the thing: when Jenny writes, you laugh in recognition, and with the distinct impression that she wrote specifically to let you know that she sees you, and that you’re not alone. Which, of course, she did, she does, and you’re not. How to Be Okay is one hell of a joyful, insightful, comforting read."
—Karen Walrond, author of The Lightmaker’s Manifesto, Radiant Rebellion, and In Defense of Dabbling

"How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay is wise and funny and a reminder that you don't have to be perfect in imperfect times (which is always). I hope Jenny Lawson never gets tired of being an actual national treasure."
—John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling author of Starter Villain

"...A witty roundup of coping strategies for navigating anxiety, creative block, and distraction...Lawson’s at her most winning when she’s relating her personal mishaps...to show how ordinary embarrassment can be reframed as evidence of persistence rather than failure. The result is an irreverent, idiosyncratic grab bag of tactics for getting through tough mental health days."
Publisher's Weekly

About

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.

Praise

"I didn't expect a book about mental health tips to involve a prolonged subplot about trying to steal a human skull from a hospital, and yet here we are. Jenny Lawson is a gift—funny, weird, and the exact right amount of unhinged."
—Jennette McCurdy - #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Half His Age and I'm Glad My Mom Died


"What Jenny offers here is solidarity in a thousand tiny forms. Tips that are hilarious and sacred. Stories that make you laugh out loud and also feel seen in your despair. This is a book for when you’re spiraling. When your brain is a jerk. When you’re grieving or exhausted or suddenly remembering the thing you said in seventh grade. Jenny doesn’t pretend her mess has been turned into meaning. She just makes space for all of life’s ridiculous truths so the rest of us don’t feel so alone."
—Kate Bowler, PhD, Duke professor, bestselling author, and host of the Everything Happens podcast

"I love this book. It is a cheese and charcuterie tray from the gods. Every entry is an amuse-bouche that is delicious for my creator brain. I need Jenny Lawson’s wisdom in my eyeholes for life, please."
—Felicia Day, New York Times bestselling author of one of Embrace Your Weird

"When the world (and your own brain) tells you to give up, this book refuses to let you stay in the shadows. With her signature wit and compassion, Jenny Lawson takes readers through the trenches of being human. Her words are a mirror for the messy, beautiful parts of life—a reminder that even in the darkest moments, hope can still be found. This book will save lives." —Kate Baer, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of What Kind Of Woman

"No one writes about serious topics in a funny way like Jenny Lawson. But here’s the thing: when Jenny writes, you laugh in recognition, and with the distinct impression that she wrote specifically to let you know that she sees you, and that you’re not alone. Which, of course, she did, she does, and you’re not. How to Be Okay is one hell of a joyful, insightful, comforting read."
—Karen Walrond, author of The Lightmaker’s Manifesto, Radiant Rebellion, and In Defense of Dabbling

"How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay is wise and funny and a reminder that you don't have to be perfect in imperfect times (which is always). I hope Jenny Lawson never gets tired of being an actual national treasure."
—John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling author of Starter Villain

"...A witty roundup of coping strategies for navigating anxiety, creative block, and distraction...Lawson’s at her most winning when she’s relating her personal mishaps...to show how ordinary embarrassment can be reframed as evidence of persistence rather than failure. The result is an irreverent, idiosyncratic grab bag of tactics for getting through tough mental health days."
Publisher's Weekly