Notes from the Community, Volume 8
More art, more comments, more links. Settle in and find a few things you'll like. 🛋️
Friends and readers, thanks for being out there! I’m so glad to be writing this newsletter and interacting with lots of people in the community. Here’s our eighth roundup of community notes, featuring reader comments, links, and more.
Popular Comments 📝
Most posts have the option to comment—and it’s so fun to see readers jumping in!
In this section I’ll highlight a few recent comments that were upvoted the most by the community. (These are edited lightly for brevity, without changing the tone. Read the full comments and many more on each post’s page.)
From Benjamin, on the post You Are Not The Failure Point:
I have been sitting over the last few months with the idea of surrender being an active antidote to resignation. Being able to hold and sit with pain, in a way where we are choosing to allow it to work in and on us, usually leads to some kind of change.
And from Joseph Rivers:
I have a reminder that pops up on my phone that says "Nothing changes if nothing changes." Having that radical acceptance is so important otherwise you're destined to go round in circles 'thinking' you're making changes but not.
From Lynne Beers, on the post Antidepressants Save Lives:
We need to accept mental health just like we do cancer or high blood pressure. We can be such a divided people and we need to come together. I can bet that everyone is related to someone on mental health medications for something.
I have been a nurse for 30 years and a psych nurse for 10. I have been on antidepressants since I was 24 and I have tried getting off of them but realized my life is so much better when I am on them. There are so many out there if one doesn't fit please try another but don't give up! This world needs you.
And from Connie:
One point, speaking as a medically complex person: When this comes up, people make comparisons to the treatment of non-mental illness, pointing out how we wouldn’t shame a person with disease X for taking drug Y. Except that people do get shamed for that in some quarters. There’s always somebody convinced that everyone can fix everything—from diabetes to arthritis to infertility to cancer—by being sufficiently committed to the right lifestyle change. And lifestyle matters. But if your disease is one that’s successfully reversed by nothing more than a change of diet and some yoga, you need to realize you’re one of the lucky ones.
From Shannon Callarman, on the post “Laziness Doesn’t Exist”:
“What would it be like for you to have a day where you didn’t think about yourself so god damn much?” !!!
Wow, this interview was fantastic. I’m glad I read it before my day started, because it’s going to stick with me. I have fallen into the trap of self-optimization so much that it’s almost like an addiction, and/or a coping mechanism from not getting hurt.
Such an important message.
And from Debra Myers:
Wow. So incredibly helpful. I especially appreciated her TEDtalk. I have been beating myself up for decades about my inability to “keep house” even though I love a clean neat space. Recently, I decided to cut down on the number of things I own to make it easier even though I have to get rid of things I like. What I realized is that a lot of it is stuff I kept out of guilt or nostalgia (someone gave it to me or made it for me, or I made it). I am deciding to go with being morally neutral about tossing things and my home not being neat. I can see that this may be a huge relief.
From Earl Rutledge, on the post "Uncertainty is the gateway to possibility":
The awesome insight for me was, “Uncertainty is the gateway to possibility.” Therefore, “Learn to dance with uncertainty.” I have recently been facing so much uncertainty and Jonathan’s thoughts affirmed the my taking uncertainty by the hand and walking with it. “Dance with uncertainty” is an even more beautiful metaphor than walking.
And from Bailey Reutzel, on the post Unfinished Business:
Just last night, exhausted, I had an unfinished email... I ended up making a bullet-pointed list of all the things I needed to say and thought, man my brain isn't working, those are not the right words, why can't I think of the right words, but after making the list, I put it away and then this morning, I got up and in a crunch of time, wrote out the email and all the words came to me!
Art & Other Fun Things (including two new books this time)
Note: if you like any of these images, be sure to click through on the links. What’s included here is just a small selection of the full work.
The Year of Living Constitutionally—a new book by AJ Jacobs! (Fun fact, AJ and I are distant cousins…)
AJ's new book, pictured here with me at his very on-brand book launch party
I really enjoy Henry’s newsletter The Common Reader, and this is his first book. It’s currently available in the UK (all editions) and on Kindle in the U.S.
38 True Things by Sophie Lucido Johnson
School Days Gone By by breafkast and Alex Sparks
Posts and Stories I Liked
In addition to my regular browsing, every couple of weeks I do a public call for submissions. I’ll share many of the links that people send me in future posts.
Here are a few posts I’ve enjoyed recently:
What We’ve Covered So Far
And as for this newsletter, we’re now twenty-one weeks into the year. So far we’ve covered:
Introduction, It Was Going So Well, Unhelpful Life Advice, From Rejection to Reflection, Overthinking, A Couch Can Make You Happy, “I Wish I’d Made That Change Later,” Why This Now?, “Your Voicemail Isn’t Working,” Your Last 40 Minutes, Imposter Syndrome Isn’t What You Think, Consider the Opposite of What You’re Worried About, How I Use (and Don’t Use) Adderall to Focus, You Can Be Better than You Are, Is It Always Best to "Do What Makes You Happy"?, A Tale of Two Yoga Teachers, The Felt Sense, No One Teaches You How to Breathe, The Trauma of Adult Undiagnosed ADHD, “What matters to me right now?”, Lessons From Your Six-Year-Old-Self, Try This When You Aren’t Sure What To Do, Time Anxiety: Can You Take a Quick Survey?, If You Can't Learn Math It's Not Your Fault, Consider this if you like taking care of people, Time Blindness, The Perks of Being Misunderstood, You’re Always Going to Lose at Something, Election Anxiety Is Real, So Make a Plan to Disengage, Attention Has a Cost, What Is "Demand Avoidance"? A Case Study, Can You Be Much Happier than You Thought?, Do You Have a “Granny Hobby”?, 15 Ways to Self-Sabotage, Why Is It Hard to Be Different?, Why Do I Put Off Seeing My Friends?, Exposure Therapy, You Are Not the Failure Point, Antidepressants Save Lives, Who Should Read “A Year of Mental Health”?
As well as short activities that you can complete in 15 minutes or less:
As well as our biweekly interview series:
"Uncertainty is the gateway to possibility": A Conversation with Jonathan Fields
"The world is a better place when I take up space": A Conversation with Marc Typo
“Wellbeing is about capacity”: A Conversation with Emma Gannon
"There’s no one life script for everyone": A conversation with Sari Botton
I’m looking forward to seeing these lists expand as the year progresses.
Note: if you’re publishing a newsletter, feel free to comment in this post with the name of your publication so that other readers can find you.
Special Thanks to our Paid Subscribers
As promised, most content on A Year of Mental Health will be completely free. Paid subscribers make this possible.
Even though most posts are freely available at the time of publication, many of you have already upgraded your subscriptions—and I am grateful! Thank you. 🙏 🙏 🙏
Whenever someone upgrades, the platform offers subscribers a chance to write a note to the creator, which can be shared with the subscriber’s permission.
Here’s one that I received this week from Julie Shanson:
"I really liked the description of “me” at the end of the post. I’m making some changes this year and I know it will be hard. Reading your posts helps me feel less alone in my stuckness or opposition or refusal to categorize myself as lazy."
and from Cathy McCracken:
"I feel it will be valuable and encouraging to my day to day mental struggles."
Again, I want this project to be helpful and valuable to you. We’re just getting started, and there’s much more to come.
Scholarships Available Upon Request
What if you want a paid subscription but can’t afford it? It’s all good, we’ve got you covered! 🤝
Specifically, we now have a scholarship plan where you can pay whatever you can afford. These scholarships are covered by our Founding Members—thank you, Founding Members!
If you’d like one, just send a note to team @ chrisguillebeau .com with the word “Scholarship” in the subject line. We’ll help you get whatever option you need.
On the Horizon
That’s it for now, but I’ll be back every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7am Pacific time. Upcoming topics include: my experiments in ketamine therapy, radical acceptance, and the no-guilt rule for messaging with your friends.
And maybe a surprise guest or two! Like I said, there’s much more to come. 🎁
This was such an invaluable read today. So many brilliant reads and links to help navigate our days.
We appreciate you including Dumpster Ephemera in your roundup - what a nice notification to receive! This was an enjoyable read and introduced me to some new substackers to follow, thanks!