From the beloved author of Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come and voice behind the wildly popular Substack, It’ll Be Fun, They Said, comes a joyful, honest, and laugh-out-loud exploration of what it really means to be happy in an age of anxiety - and the unlikely places joy shows up when you go looking for it.
What would make my life happier?
This is the question Jessica Pan asked when the long walks, Netflix binges, therapy and bowls of carbonara weren’t working. After the pandemic and on the other side of postpartum anxiety and depression, she discovered that while the panic had lifted, joy hadn’t returned. And she realised she wasn’t alone.
Here Jess chronicles the year she spent putting herself directly in joy’s path by trying new things, asking uncomfortable questions and reporting back with her trademark humor and honesty, even when she would rather stay home. We join her on adventures like:
- A pilgrimage to Finland, where she sweats through saunas, plunges into icy seas and asks what happiness looks like in other cultures.
- An experiment with Deep Talk with her parents, using research-backed questions to have the conversations we postpone until it feels too late.
- A crash course in adult hobbies that help her confront perfectionism, embarrassment and the strange grief of realizing how rarely grown-ups let themselves play.
- Falling back in love with the human race from behind the till of an bookshop in London.
- Conversations with psychologists, behavioural scientists, philosophers and other 'happiness mentors' who guide Jess on her experiments to find out what can really, truly benefit our state of mind.
It’ll Be Fun, They Said is about learning how to make room for many different types of happiness, even when life remains complicated.
