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In Reasons to Stay Alive, Matt Haig recalls how when he was 24 he experienced a bout of depression so severe he couldn’t see how he could possibly stay alive.

In the abridgement of his book, read by Carl Prekopp, we hear the story of how he overcame debilitating mental illness. Not only did he survive, he thrived, discovering that there was so much to live for and that he would feel happiness once more.

The mind and body are so often seen as separate things, yet mental illness can have very physical manifestations: heart palpitations, sweating and tingling when anxious, or consuming fatigue when depressed.

There is a stigma surrounding taking medication for mental illness that doesn’t exist in the same way with physical ailments. If we were to have a headache or an injury, there would be no judgment around taking painkillers. Yet there is greater wariness when it comes to medication for the mind, such as antidepressants, even though they can be very effective.

“If something works, we don’t necessarily care why,” says Matt. While medication didn’t work for him, Matt says he is pro anything which works to alleviate and improve symptoms of mental illness. For some that is medication, for others therapy, or perhaps a combination of the two.

Matt opts for exercise, yoga, and immersing himself in things and people he loves.

You cannot run away from mental illness, but you can run with it. Running can be an excellent tool for building resilience, as Matt discovered.

The side effects of intense movement, for instance, can mimic the symptoms of a panic attack: quick breathing, racing pulse, excessive sweating. Experiencing these symptoms in a controlled setting can take the sting out of them.

Physically exerting oneself also proves to the sufferer that they can cope when things feel really, really hard. The internal debate with oneself when running is almost like a metaphor for depression: feeling that it is too hard to carry on, yet proving to yourself that you can.

As Matt explains: “For me, each time I forced myself out there in the cold, grey, damp of a West Yorkshire morning, it gave me a little bit of depression beating power.”

Running is certainly not a miracle cure, but it is a tool that can alleviate brain fog, provide a goal, and prove that you are more resilient than you know.

Depression does not necessarily come alone. For some people, it brings with it a cohort of related conditions like uninvited guests at a party. Matt experienced not just depression but also symptoms of anxiety: panic disorder, OCD, agoraphobia, and fear of separation.

In the midst of a bout of mental illness, it can be easy for its presence to be felt in every waking minute of every day. But it won’t always be there, and one day the mind will be able to wander freely again.

Anxiety can be a “full time occupation of gale force worry,” says Matt. It can be easy to feel swept away by its perpetual motion: racing pulse, quickening breath, the urge to move or flee, and thoughts that gallop away before you can rein them in.

Yet, as Matt explains, it can be very treatable and one of the most effective means of doing so is to slow down. “Anxiety runs your mind at fast forward rather than normal play speed, so addressing that issue of mental pace might not be easy. But it works. Anxiety takes away all the commas and full stops we need to make sense of ourselves.”

There are some simple yet effective ways Matt suggests to re-punctuate our rambling anxious minds: yoga, which addresses our minds and bodies as one; slower breathing – shallow breathing both causes and exacerbates a number of uncomfortable physical anxiety symptoms; meditation, even just five minutes at a time; acceptance – “relaxation is about letting go,” says Matt; and love, not necessarily in a romantic or familial way, but as a lens through which to see the world, as an attitude to life.

Years after his breakdown, Matt discovered that the secret to living happily and calmly is to accept your thoughts.

No one has a mind free from negative thoughts. He explains that the key is in accepting all your thoughts, even bad ones, but not becoming them.

“You can walk through a storm and feel the wind, but you know you are not the wind. That is how we must be with our minds,” says Matt.

Having a sad thought, or series of thoughts, does not mean you are a sad person. You are experiencing sadness but, like a storm, it will pass.