Episode-by-episode discussion of Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig — one man's breakdown at 24, and the honest, funny account of how he came back. Each episode takes one chapter and turns it into something you can use today. Part of Burnout Books to Podcasts.
5 episodes listed below. All 10 are on Apple Podcasts, free, no signup.
At 24, Matt Haig stood at a cliff edge and chose to stay. We walk through 'Falling' — the breakdown in Ibiza, what depression actually feels like from the inside, and why it's so hard for anyone outside it to understand.
After the fall comes the landing: learning to exist again. We cover the panic, the agoraphobia, the days measured in small survivals — and the first fragile signs that a mind can mend.
The turning point. From the art of walking to the corner shop alone, to love, books, and running — we trace the slow, unglamorous, utterly real process of rising out of depression one ordinary victory at a time.
Recovery isn't a straight line. 'Living' is about existing alongside a mind that sometimes turns on you — slowing down, surviving parties, handling the big A (anxiety), and the things that genuinely make it better and worse.
The finale: in praise of thin skins. Haig's closing argument that the sensitivity that makes you vulnerable to the lows is the same sensitivity that lets you feel the highs — plus his forty pieces of advice for how to live.
We discuss it chapter by chapter, but nothing replaces reading it. This is an Amazon affiliate link — it costs you nothing extra and it helps pay for the show.
10 episodes in this show, 1,100+ across the whole network, and a new one every day.
More chapter-by-chapter shows: Burnout · The Myth of Normal · When the Body Says No · Slow Productivity · 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think
Educational commentary and review only — not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Matt Haig or the publisher. All discussion is transformative and used under Fair Use. No copyright infringement intended. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.