Carrie Fisher passed away last week and if you are anything like me you are grieving this tremendous loss. Carrie did so much for the world and it is important to look at everything she did not only her greatest hits. She was not only an actress but also an author, comedian and mental health advocate among many things. So here are some things to do this week in memory of Carrie Fisher
1. Watch Star Wars, the original trilogy
To start out with something obvious, watch Carrie in her best known and loved role as Princess Leia. Prince Leia brought about a new type of female for young girls to look up to in the entertainment industry. She was not only strong and fearless but also made sure she was always in charge.
2. Read one of her books
I have not had the chance to read one of Carrie's books just yet but they are going to be the next books I read. Carrie wrote eight novels, with three of them being non-fiction. Her latest novel to come out was Princess Diarist and it came out just this year.
3. Watch her one-woman show
Carrie's non-fiction novel, Wishful Drinking was actually based on her one-woman show that had a run in San Francisco and even a limited run on Broadway. The January 2009 New York Times review described it as a "funny, sardonic little memoir", but "pretty slight, padded out with big type, extra space between the lines and some family photographs, and it displays at times an almost antic need to entertain. The paragraphs are short, and the jokes – the puns, the wisecracks, the deadpan one-liners – come rattling along at the rate of one every other sentence or so."
4. Watch her in one of her documentaries
Not only was Wishful Drinking a book and a stage play but it was adapted by HBO into a documentary. Also releasing this year is the documentary, "Bright Lights" which follows Carrie Fisher's relationship with her mother actress, Debbie Reynolds. Debbie Reynolds passed away the day after her daughter, Carrie, so watching this would be a great way to honor both of these amazing women. "Bright Lights" premieres January 7th, 2017 on HBO.5. Listen to her talks and interviews on mental health
Carrie Fisher dealt with bipolar disorder her entire life and was a big advocate for its awareness. She also had her therapy and emotional support dog, Gary with her everywhere she went. She was very open about her mental health and talked about it often. I would highly recommend listening to her 2000 interview on ABC's Primetime with Diane Sawyer, where she said "I have a chemical imbalance that, in its most extreme state, will lead me to a mental hospital..."I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that. I survived that, I'm still surviving it, but bring it on. Better me than you."In her book, Wishful Drinking, Fisher wrote about her hoped-for, eventual obituary: "I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra." So that is how we will remember this amazing woman.