4864922_sI am a 16 year-old girl from Northern California, and have had Lyme Disease for seven years.  Digging Deep helped me take it one step at a time and reflect on my emotions and what I was going through.  It can be very hard to understand my feelings about my symptoms, but writing them down and answering the open-ended questions helped me organize some of the jumbled mess in my mind.  This book helped me keep my spirits up and find good things in bad days.

Several times throughout the book, there are pages where you write things that you like about yourself, or your talents, etc.  I think this keeps people from falling too deep into self-doubt and misery while feeling really sick.  Digging Deep can also be used for journaling about feelings not directly related to your disease.  Some days, my disease has forced me to miss school.  This is very upsetting since I get very stressed about the constantly piling make-up work.

This interactive book is very powerful for someone with an illness, but can also be just as useful for someone without one.  Digging Deep has helped me realize that my disease and me are not the same, but everyone will probably have their own experience.

I appreciate the creators of Digging Deep because this writing experience has been very valuable throughout the journey of my illness. Digging Deep is very unique—it seems to get what I’m going through, which I’ve never seen in another book or journal.  It is easy to relate to, and although the questions challenge you to think about some pretty serious things, they are fairly easy to answer.

The colorful art brings the book to life, and made writing about my health struggles less hospital-like.  When I look at the pictures in the book, I think of all the children that must have drawn them, and this reminds me that I am not alone.  This book has also helped me stop isolating myself from my family and friends.  Many of my friendships ended because of what I go through on a daily basis, yet Digging Deep again helped me connect back to others.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone of all ages.