Reasons to stay alive
"Like nearly one in five people, Matt Haig suffers from depression. Reasons to Stay Alive is Matt’s inspiring account of how, minute by minute and day by day, he overcame the disease with the help of reading, writing, and the love of his parents and his girlfriend (and now-wife), Andrea. And eventually, he learned to appreciate life all the more for it."
Stats for nerds
4recommend
4mentions
4people
2016–2022years
100% recommend
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- For anyone not looking for a prescriptive answer, but just a way to put words to your experience, and some proof that you’re not crazy, I highly recommend the book _Reasons to Stay Alive_ by Matt Haig.
- I hear you. Just know that you are enough. You always will be. I know what you're going through. Also struggled for my whole life with these issues and been through my own dark night of the soul. I've found the ancient philosophies of buddhism, taoism, stoicism(this one most), and many others to help me move this boulder all the way up the hill and not constantly failing like Sisyphus. Part of you does die per-say, you're not the same person as you were previously. People refer to that as an awakening, a self-realization, but I see it as your ego dying in the process. Very common if you think about it from a Greek myth perspective of a hero's journey or even part of Star Wars where the Padawan becomes the Jedi Master.
I don't know if this happens to everyone in life nor will everyone realize it, but finding meaning in life for me meant reading tons of books and getting clarity of what was missing in my life after better understanding self-actualization from many angles. After-all it is the big question we all want an answer to. I think I found that, but I still do suffer through stormy weather here and there and I remind myself that I've gotten through it before, I'll get through it again. I've been through years of depression, and now they are more like weeks if not days.
Highly recommend reasons to stay alive by Matt Haig and man's search for meaning by Viktor Frankl if you haven't read them already.
Wishing you the best and do know that you are enough.
- I don't know if you're still following up on the answers but I'd like to share. You might want to purchase a sleep fracker bracelet and monitor your sleep. That way, you'll be sure that you get adequate sleep.
You also may want to separate your work and your private life. On your free time I think you should simply do nothing for a while. No HN/no music/no computers, hang out with friends, or simply sit and reflect.
Lastly, if you think you're irrevocably broken, you're not. You're just tired, overworked and taken advantage of. Think, could it be any worse than working 60 hours per week and getting only 5 hours of work done.
When a CPU overheats, you let it cool down. When you can't solve a technical problem you're facing, you take a walk, do something else and then return. Work does not have to define who you are nor your level of success. Push out all your haunting dreams and plans for a while and just live. No purpose, no work outside of your job. Try to keep commitments to a minimum. With rest you'll be better. It's just like a physical illness, if you're sick, you need to rest to recover.
Best of luck, if you're in need of a distraction I would recommend the book: Reasons to stay alive.
