an amateur's guide to staying alive by Scottee

Pre-order: Publishes 15 April 2027
Signed copies available
 
We live in a culture where we are under constant pressure to do, to improve, to optimise. Wellness is aspirational but commodified, and our quest to be 'well' can come at a personal cost. In an amateur's guide to staying alive, Scottee offers a quieter, more honest alternative: what if we let go of the idea of getting better and instead learn to hold ourselves with more softness? This book looks at how we think about mental health - politically, culturally and medically - and the stories we tell ourselves about our brains.

It asks what 'normal' really means, who it serves and what might become possible if we stopped trying so hard to perform it. Drawing on Scottee's own lived experience alongside the voices of mental health professionals, friends and family, this is not a promise of recovery, nor a set of instructions for how we might be fixed. It is a companion for surviving for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by their own mind, and an invitation to let go of stifling normality and make peace with life's uncertainties.
 
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Scottee is the creator and host of podcast series, Self Help. He has been featured in The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Observer, and The Week. He is behind the popular Instagram account, @scotteeisfat, where he has 1 million followers.
 
Scottee is also an actor and yoga teacher, and has launched Wonkee Club, a gorgeous, alternative, yoga platform. He has also held associateships with Duckie, Roundhouse, and HOME Mcr, and has been commissioned by many major UK cultural institutions. In audio broadcasting, he co-hosted BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends with Clive Anderson for over a decade, co-created the BBC Sounds podcast After the Tone, and presented the BBC radio series Taxi Drivers, which featured contributions from international artists including Sir Anthony Gormley.