Hi. I hope you're ok.
My name's Joe, and I have one job, every day: don't kill myself.
I live with a complex mental illness called Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
15% of people with BPD die by suicide, and 40% try. I'm already in the 40%. My job is to keep out of the 15%.
It's so common for people with BPD to take their own lives that it's one of the only mental illnesses that lists suicide as a symptom. But that's not the only way it messes with you.
In this book I want to try and explain what life is like when you have a brain that is essentially trying to murder you every day. It's a collection of the funny, sad, shocking and weird stuff that has happened to me along the way.
I wrote this book to save my own life. Because I had run out of options. I had done everything else and I still thought about killing myself every day. But if there is even the smallest chance that me telling you how I live with me helps you live with you, and opens up a space for you to be more honest about your mental health, it will have been worth it.
