screenshot206 I Don’t Have a Happy Place. Well, I do. I have a happy place. But author Kim Korson doesn’t, as she shares with us in her poignant and funny and touching memoir, I Don’t Have A Happy Place.  I mean, where else can there be humor in the drowning of your best friend’s babysitter’s sister? Ok, maybe not really, but it’s at least a  little funny the way Korson tells it.

And that’s what draws you into I Don’t Have A Happy Place. Completely relatable to some, and completely exasperating to others (me), I Don’t Have A Happy Place is the kind of read that takes you out of your comfort zone and puts you in the place of someone who is never quite at home in her own skin, or in any situation.

And to me, that’s the gem of the book. Even if we don’t have Korson’s issues, most all of us feel, at some time, off kilter and out of sorts with the world around us. Korson just tells us that it’s OK.  She’s been lucky enough to find a partner who gets her, no matter how much she may frustrate him. And she gets him, which is the equal beauty.

She’s also brutally honest in her interpretation of life. If there’s a downside to be found, she’ll discover it. But thankfully, the book doesn’t dwell in Debbie Downer. Well, it sort of does, but in a humorous, self-deprecating way. In fact, part of the joy in reading the book is discovering happiness and gratitude in places where Korson least expected it.  Is Disney really the happiest place on earth?

What Korson does well is show us that people who fundamentally don’t have  a happy place want largely what we all (generally) do- to find their own place in this world. And there is one.

It’s through reading about the experiences of others not like me that I strive to be more empathetic. A better person.  Someone more understanding. But it’s also a guide in how to come to peace with ourselves, however imperfect we may be.

Recommended for those who like memoirs, and revel in imperfection.  It’s out TODAY and available anywhere you buy books.