Pain Remixed: Navigating Life with Trauma, Grief, Depression and Anxiety

A Difficult Childhood Can Be Survived

It�s not reasonable to expect young people to lift themselves out of depression and anxiety. It�s not expectable that a young person in the midst of an especially horrible childhood should self-correct and instantly stand upright as the sterling representative of his age.

Joe Lyons-Rising never got much help during his difficult early years of life, and the effects of his trials lasted well into adulthood. Sleepless nights, tearful days, stomach-wrenching farewells, and terrifying alterations of living conditionsâ�"Lyons-Rising knew them well.

He lost both parents to suicide before the age of 10, was almost killed twice in accidents, divorced messily, dabbled in booze and drugs, and very nearly sank beneath the weight of the misfortune that constituted his life.

Yet he is here to tell you that help is available ââ?¬" that he is here to say anything at all ought to provide reassurance to those facing traumas of their own. The mission of ââ?¬Å"Pain Remixed: Navigating Life with Trauma, Grief, Depression and Anxietyââ?¬Â? is not only to show that a difficult childhood can be survived, but that in this modern age, they can be greatly solaced, their pain mostly palliated. His is the story of difficult fate and the assistance he found and utilized in order to carry on.

ââ?¬Å"This book is not your typical read on the four key topics of mental health: trauma, grief, depression, and anxiety,ââ?¬Â? Lyons-Rising writes in the Introduction. ââ?¬Å"This book is a mixture of my personal stories, research, music quotes, and tales that have positively shaped my journey, and it is all aimed at offering a foundation of resilience for remixing our futures.ââ?¬Â?

Remixing is a repeated theme here. While itââ?¬â?¢s not possible to change the original songs of our troubles, Lyons-Rising says, we can at least interpenetrate them with happier notions and work to undo the damage from past horrors. As with the ââ?¬Å"DJingââ?¬Â? he loves to do at social gatherings, one can remix the habits and memories of oneââ?¬â?¢s life into a more gratifying assemblage.

This memoir/self-help hybrid, as Lyons-Rising calls it, works well as an inspiration for those who may not understand that kids have it tough â�" that all people have it tough sometimes â�" and that bad habits can be changed and better practices put in their place.

Among the better strategies for living that Lyons-Rising promotes: listening to music and comedy, getting outside to exercise, finding the right friends and the right people to associate with, and getting professional help when needed.

These suggestions, plus his own historic difficulties and the ways he found to get out of them ââ?¬" plus the references to helpful resources he provides ââ?¬" make ââ?¬Å"Pain Remixedââ?¬Â? a worthy read. If nothing else it reminds us that, no matter how sinister life may look sometimes, help is never far away.