Kelsey Darragh
Description
THIS IS NOT A RELATIONSHIP BOOK. THIS IS A BREAKUP BOOK.
From Kelsey Darragh — comedian, filmmaker, mental health advocate, bestselling author of Don
...
’t F*cking Panic, and the person BuzzFeed’s 250 million viewers came to know as the “big sister” of mental health on the internet. Formerly a BuzzFeed development partner whose videos averaged 14 million views each, she went on to E!’s flagship LGBT comedy show Dating: No Filter, hosts the chart-topping podcast Confidently Insecure, and has built one of the most engaged mental health communities on TikTok and Instagram. Her first TC book, Don’t F*cking Panic, hit the Amazon bestseller list in mental health. This is her second — and if Don’t F*cking Panic was the book she wished she’d had for her anxiety, Don’t Do What I Did is the one she needed for her breakups.
There’s no better high than being in love — so naturally, there’s no bigger crash than a breakup. Hate to break it to you (pun intended), but every relationship in history ends one of two ways: you stay together, or you don’t. And if this book’s in your hands, you’re probably ugly-crying through option two.
You might be feeling all the things: sad, pissed, betrayed, horny (yes, that one sneaks in), or like your ex’s face is suddenly hiding in every damn song, streetlight, and coffee order. Maybe you’re still trying to “understand what happened,” or maybe you’re parked outside their house eating a gas-station muffin while listening to The Tortured Poets Department. And if one more person tells you “time heals all wounds,” you’re going to punch them squarely in the F***ING face.
So let me tell you the truth: time won’t fix this. You will.
And Darragh should know. She texted poems at 2 a.m. She begged, ghosted, and once downed eight espresso martinis in one sitting. Eight. So this book is called Don’t Do What I Did because she did everything wrong first, learned from the wreckage, and is now here to teach you to self-regulate before you end up owning novelty footwear you didn’t plan for.
Like her breakout workbook "Don’t F*cking Panic," this book is built from the same structure: her personal disasters as the case studies, the actual tools as the curriculum. It’s not a passive read — it’s an active survival guide for the specific, stupid, occasionally humiliating, deeply human experience of getting your heart broken and eventually, eventually, being okay. With your dignity mostly intact. And maybe laughing while it happens.
This isn’t another “move on, queen!” book. It’s what post-breakup recovery actually looks like when you’re being honest about it — which, for Darragh, means it’s also frequently hilarious.
Written from a proudly queer and bisexual perspective — inclusive of LGBTQ+ relationships, non-monogamous situations, and any breakup that doesn’t fit the traditional heterosexual heartbreak template most self-help books assume.
Perfect for:
- Anyone currently in the ugly-crying phase of a breakup and needing something that meets them there without
- toxic positivity or platitudes
- Readers of Don’t F*cking Panic who want Darragh’s same voice, same workbook energy, same honest-as-hell personal stories — applied to heartbreak instead of anxiety
- Fans of Ali Wong’s Dear Girls, Nora McInerny’s It’s Okay to Laugh, or any comedian-written memoir that uses humor as the delivery vehicle for actual hard truths
- LGBTQ+ readers who are tired of breakup books written entirely for straight cis women navigating the end of conventional monogamous relationships
- Anyone who knows they’re handling their breakup badly and needs both permission to laugh about it and actual tools to do better
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