Well, That Went Terribly — A Guide to Carrying On Anyway | 37-Page Printable

This is not a book about healing. It is definitely not a book about becoming your best self. I have met my best self. She has never once shown up when it mattered.

This is for the specific person who is still doing everything. Still working. Still answering messages. Still the one making everybody laugh at the hospital, the funeral, the kitchen table — and quietly thinking: I cannot keep doing this forever.

I have been that person. I ran a business through the worst period of my life while telling everyone I was fine, and I was so convincing I nearly believed it myself.

WHAT'S ACTUALLY IN IT

Twenty-five short chapters, each one a true story with something useful underneath. The porch chair I broke by proving it wasn't broken. The little gold crown I lost for two days and found in the refrigerator, next to the ranch dressing. The to-do list so detailed that "make to-do list" became item number one. The time I got my hair stuck to a customer's mailer and she later left a glowing review about the beautiful packaging.

And the ones that aren't funny at all — the bright voice you use when you say you're fine, the people who disappear at week three, why the second year is often worse than the first, and what happens when you start rebuilding before you've had time to stand in the ruins.

Every chapter ends with one small thing. Not a system. Not a routine. One thing, doable on a bad day, by somebody with nothing left.

SEVEN PRACTICAL PAGES AT THE BACK

• Three Things Before Lunch — the thing that actually worked
• The Bad Day Protocol — fill it in on a good day, read it on a bad one
• The Not Today List — the opposite of a to-do list, and more useful
• Six permission slips to cut out
• Things to Say Instead — hand this to somebody who loves you and keeps getting it wrong
• The Energy Budget
• Spotting Yourself — for people who cope by getting weirdly productive

THERE IS ONE CHAPTER WITH NO JOKES IN IT

My mama died, and I'm still not over it, and I don't particularly expect to be. That chapter exists so nobody closes this book thinking humour is the recommendation. Humour is how I carry things. It is not how I put them down.

WHAT YOU'LL RECEIVE

A 37-page PDF in US Letter and A4. Instant download. Print it, print the practical pages as many times as you need, keep it forever.

PLEASE NOTE

This is a personal book with jokes in it. It is not therapy, counselling, or treatment for anything, and it doesn't replace talking to someone qualified. If you're struggling badly — can't function for weeks, or have any thought of not wanting to be here — please talk to a person rather than a book.

Digital download; nothing is posted to you. For personal use.