As a professional, I saw how some of his anxieties. There were some instances though when I disagreed with him. It was helpful to read to know you’re not alone. It was helpful to read that he had something similar to say. There is no reason for me to be depressed. By all intents and purposes, my life is good. It felt validating to read about someone else’s experience where there is no specific trigger, no specific cause and when things can actually seem quite okay in your life. When I read the book, it was timely given my own fragile mental health. He also looks at toxic masculinity and how that impacted him as well as the impact of societal pressures these days which contribute to our fragile mental health. In the end, these are also some of the reasons he stays alive. For Haig, running, yoga, meditation, writing, and his family seem to be the things that have helped him. He did not seek therapy but tried to make gradual changes on his own after struggling significantly for over a year. Haig admits he tried medication briefly but it didn’t help him and his anxiety about medications made it worse. It took years of battling through it to be okay. Haig was close to ending his life after the black dog seemed to appear out of nowhere when he was in Ibiza with his girlfriend, now wife. Matt Haig’s Reasons to stay alive is a memoir about his journey with anxiety and depression from his twenties.
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