Sleep. Write. Now.: Emerging from a dark year of insomnia, anxiety and depression from loss

by Seth Bisen-Hersh

In 2012, Seth Bisen-Hersh had a dark year. By the end of 2011, a myriad of his best friends had abandoned New York City, and the girl he thought he was going to marry decided they had irreconcilable incompatibilities. The breakup triggered an intense adverse insomnia, anxiety and depression ensued. As he was battling these, he lost two grandparents in the span of two weeks during the summer of 2012. Then that fall, his younger sister got married and moved away. Seth tried everything to get through the tough times of compounded loss, and this memoir is a testament to his dedication to recover. Filled with non-euphemized truth and self-aware hindsight, and infused with a wry sense of humor, this book includes unabridged journal entries, real emails to friends, therapy recollections, medication analyses, and heart wrenching poems and song lyrics written during the dark year as it charts his journey from Cloud Nine to rock bottom and finally back to the surface.

Guaranteed to make you laugh and cry, sometimes in the same sentence, Sleep. Write. Now. is dedicated to anyone who is going through a dark year.

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 9, 2015

Reviews

[Zivana · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the very first sentence, Seth draws you into his world and you find yourself by his side throughout the ups and downs of his tumultuous year. The book is witty and insanely funny but the beautiful thing about Sleep.Write.Now is how the author isn't afraid of being vulnerable to the reader and how he doesn't beat himself up too much for not seeing the warning signs soon enough (something we always tend to do when we are depressed and think we must have done something to cause it).
I am no stranger to depression and insomnia, and for years I struggled to find non patronizing advice from people who really understood what I was going through. I'd rank this book right alongside Hyperbole and a Half as a must-read for anyone struggling with heartache or dark times.