How to Find Joy in Hard Times (and When Your Brain Lies to You) | Jenny Lawson
Good Life Project
Jonathan Fields / Acast
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Humor won't cure depression. But it might save your life. That's not a metaphor for Jenny Lawson. It's the hard-won truth of more than two decades of living with treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, and the kind of dark seasons that make getting out of bed feel impossible.
Most of us hide when we're struggling. We perform wellness for the world and suffer in silence behind closed doors. Jenny took the opposite approach, writing about her darkest moments with such radical honesty and unexpected humor that thousands of people have written back to say those words kept them alive. This conversation explores how she does it, and what the rest of us can learn about finding light and meaning in the hardest places.
Jenny Lawson, known to millions as The Bloggess, is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, humorist, and the owner of Nowhere Bookshop, a beloved indie bookstore and bar in San Antonio, Texas. Her books include Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Furiously Happy, You Are Here, and Broken. Her upcoming book, How To Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay (Tips and Tricks that Kept Me Alive, Happy and Creative In Spite of Myself), arrives March 31, 2026.
You'll discover...
- The single phrase Jenny returns to during every depressive episode that stops her from believing the darkest lies her brain tells her
- A simple "easy mode" approach to work and daily life that gives you full permission to do less without guilt, and why it often leads to better results for everyone
- Why sharing your struggle honestly can create an unexpected ripple effect of connection and healing for people you've never met
- A powerful reframe of what success actually means that has nothing to do with money, status, or bestseller lists
- How to find "your people" and build real friendship even when you're deeply introverted, anxious, or terrible at texting back
If you're navigating a hard season right now, or you love someone who is, this conversation is full of practical warmth, unexpected humor, and real tools for getting
through it. Hit play and let Jenny remind you that you're not alone, and that finding joy in the middle of the mess isn't just possible, it might be the very thing that keeps you going.
You can find Jenny at: Website | Instagram | Episode Transcript
Next week, we're sharing a really meaningful conversation with Harvard Business School professor Leslie John. We’re diving into the science of disclosure—specifically, why that cringey feeling of 'oversharing' might actually be holding you back from your best relationships. We’ll discuss how to find the sweet spot between being a closed book and TMI.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | They called and they were like, she didn't make it. |
| 0:02.9 | And I were like, you know, we were sad, but also she had always said, like, I wanted to go way before this anyway. So like, it was sad. And then they called back and they were like, we got it wrong. She's still alive. But just barely. And I was like, okay. And then I had to call my sister. I was like, I guess she's alive again. And she's like, |
| 0:20.9 | like a zombie? Like we got a granny zombie. I was like, I don't know. And then my mom called again and she's like, she's dead this time for sure, I think. I don't know. So here's a question. What if the funniest person in the room is also the one hurting the most? And what if that combination isn't a contradiction or a delusion, |
| 0:39.7 | but actually one of the most powerful tools that we have for surviving the hardest moments. |
| 0:44.8 | My guest today is Jenny Lawson, also known as The Bloggus. She's a number one New York Times bestselling |
| 0:50.1 | author and the owner of Nowher Bookshop, a beloved indie bookstore and bar in San Antonio. |
| 0:55.6 | And her new book, How to Be Okay When Nothing is Okay, is just really powerful. |
| 1:01.1 | Jenny has lived with treatment resistant depression and anxiety for most of her life. |
| 1:06.1 | And instead of hiding it, she's actually written about it with a level of honesty and often dark |
| 1:11.7 | humor that has literally saved her life. And if you believe thousands of messages she's gotten |
| 1:16.9 | in response, other people's lives too. In this conversation, we explore why your brain lies to you |
| 1:23.9 | when you're struggling, a simple easy mode approach that gives you permission to do less |
| 1:29.4 | without guilt. And we talk about how sharing your struggle honestly can create an unexpected |
| 1:34.2 | ripple effect of connection and healing for people you never met and how to find real |
| 1:39.5 | connection even when you're terrible at texting people back. So excited to share this conversation with you. |
| 1:45.9 | I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. |
| 1:52.4 | I'm excited to dive in with you. |
| 1:54.4 | You have been writing so openly and so humorously |
| 2:00.5 | and just like in such a real transparent way about |
| 2:04.2 | the types of things that so many of us go through we experience in life. It's a natural part of it |
| 2:10.6 | for so many of us, depression, anxiety, struggling with mental health. Yet so often when we |
| 2:17.3 | experience these things, we hide it. We don't talk to people |
... |
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