41qWp-U45CL._SL500_From Goodreads: “We live in an age when most reality TV shows climax in a tearful finale. But feeling sad – genuinely sad – is still taboo. Yet, sadness happens to us all, sometimes in heartbreakingly awful ways. If we don’t know how to be sad, it can be isolating for those experiencing it and baffling for those trying to help loved ones through dark times. Today, most of us know intellectually that ‘sad’ is normal. But we’re not always brilliant at allowing for it, in practice. Sadness is going to happen, so we might as well know how to ‘do it’ right. And it’s time to start facing our problems and talking about them. Positive psychology may have become more accepted in mainstream culture, but rates of depression have continued to rise. We’re trying so hard to be happy. But studies show that we could all benefit from learning the art of sadness and how to handle it well.“

Available from: Google Books – audiobooks.com – audible

 

My Review

This was such a good book and so helpful! I actually listened to it months ago, but I’ve struggled to formulate my thoughts  because it was so good, and so very personal. In fact I loved it so much I also bought the hardback!

Before I’d come across this book I’d been feeling sad on and off for years, putting it down to my age and finally saw my GP a couple of years ago. She was very helpful, listening to me for about an hour, which was very unusual as appointments are only a maximum of 15 minutes. She told me I had mild depression which sort of helped, but actually also made me feel worse. And then of course Covid happened and everything changed!

This book is part memoir, part self-help and it worked so well for me.  I love Helen Russell’s style of writing and loved her narration too, it made the book even better that she was reading it, as it made her life experiences all the more poignant. 

I learnt so much about sadness and emotions from this book, particularly how society has suppressed emotions for a long time, particularly sadness and it’s not doing us any good. Along with the author’s personal story, there’s lots of very interesting and helpful facts and resources about sadness, depression, and mental health in general. It really is a cornucopia of a book and one I highly recommend and will be returning to regularly. 

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