Review: Stop Surviving Start Fighting by Jazz Thornton

*Content Warnings: this memoir & review contains talks of suicide, sexual assault, anxiety, depression, borderline personality disorder, death, overdose.*

Title: Stop Surviving Start Fighting
Author: Jazz Thornton
Genre: Memoir, Self Help, Mental Health 
Publisher: Penguin Group
Publication Date: March 31st 2020
Kindle Edition, 272 Pages 

Summary: 

Jazz Thornton first attempted to take her own life at the age of 12. Multiple attempts followed and she spent time in psychiatric wards and under medical supervision as she rode the rollercoaster of depression and anxiety through her teenage years – yet the attempts continued. Find out what Jazz learned about how her negative thought patterns came to be, and how she turned those thoughts – and her life – around. Who and what helped, and what didn't help. The insights she gives will help create a greater understanding of those grappling with mental illness, and those around them who desperately want to help. Jazz went on to attend film school, and to co-found Voices of Hope, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping those with mental health issues and show them there is a way forward. She creates online content to provide hope and help. Her first video Dear Suicidal Me has had over 80 million views all around the world. She went on to create Jessica's Tree, a web series that follows the 24 hours between a friend, Jess, going missing and the discovery of her body. It provides insights into Jessica's strug­gles, to help people better understand those suffering from depression. https-//www.youtube­.com/watch?v=7QFU_qg­7Msk Jessica's Tree was viewed more than 230,000 times in the two months following its release in March 2019 and immediately began winning international recognition and awards, including the Huawei Mate30 Pro New Zealand Television Awards 2019 Best Web Series, The process and the delicate decisions that had to be made to create Jessica's Tree have themselves been documented in a film about Jazz called The Girl on the Bridge, due for release early in 2020.

Your life doesn’t change based on the actions of others, but because of your own decisions. Your decisions have the ability to change everything.

I first discovered Jazz on Tiktok a few months ago where she openly talked about the years of her life where she struggled. She answers viewers questions, listens and creates content that helps many around the world. (Click here to check out her TikTok.) After following her for a while I followed her on Instagram (Click here to check out her Instagram.) and learned about Voices of Hope, an organization and charity she put together with the help of her friend for people struggling with mental health. (Click here to check out Voices of Hope.)

In the past couple of months I been struggling with my mental health to the point it has affected my day to day life, when I learned Jazz had published a memoir abut her struggles, how she beat her struggles and go to the root of them, I couldn't help but want to read it. Jazz has become a huge inspiration to me. Stop Surviving Start Fighting is not an easy read, the topics are heavy and for many can be triggering. I took breaks several times through out the novel to compose myself and then continued on, which Jazz advises you to do in the beginning of her memoir. 

This book is important for young adults who are struggling. Its a story of hope and how even in the darkest situations there is light at the end of the tunnel. Jazz and my story is similar in certain ways and in reading this I felt less alone. I also learned personal lessons on how I've just been surviving all of these years and not actually fighting. 

It’s important to remember that healing and retraining your brain doesn’t happen overnight and we are always learning. For me, identifying the underlying experiences and issues was key in allowing me to move forward and experience lasting change.

Jazz's story is important to those who feel like there is no hope, they want to seek help but don't know how or just want to understand more on what it is like to live with mental illnesses. I can't recommend this book enough, but also I would just keep in mind of the trigger warnings I posted at the top of the post.