Audiobook5 hours
The Upside of Being Down: How Mental Health Struggles Led to My Greatest Successes in Work and Life
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
An entertaining, humorous, and inspirational memoir by the founder and chief creative officer of the multimillion-dollar lifestyle brand ban.do, who “has become a hero among women (and likely some men too) who struggle with mental health” (Forbes).
After graduating from college, Jen Gotch was living with her parents, heartbroken and lost, when she became convinced that her skin had turned green. Hallucinating that she looked like Shrek was terrifying, but it led to her first diagnosis and the start of a journey towards self-awareness, acceptance, success, and ultimately, joy.
With humor and candor, Gotch shares the empowering story of her unlikely path to becoming the creator and CCO of a multimillion-dollar brand. From her childhood in Florida where her early struggles with bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety, and ADD were misdiagnosed, to her winding career path as a waitress, photographer, food stylist, and finally, accidental entrepreneur, she illuminates how embracing her flaws and understanding the influence of mental illness on her creativity actually led to her greatest successes in business and life.
Hilarious, hyper-relatable, and filled with fascinating insights and hard-won wisdom on everything from why it’s okay to cry at work to the myth of busyness and perfection to the emotional rating system she uses every day, Gotch’s inspirational memoir dares readers to live each day with hope, optimism, kindness, and humor.
An entertaining, humorous, and inspirational memoir by the founder and chief creative officer of the multimillion-dollar lifestyle brand ban.do, who “has become a hero among women (and likely some men too) who struggle with mental health” (Forbes).
After graduating from college, Jen Gotch was living with her parents, heartbroken and lost, when she became convinced that her skin had turned green. Hallucinating that she looked like Shrek was terrifying, but it led to her first diagnosis and the start of a journey towards self-awareness, acceptance, success, and ultimately, joy.
With humor and candor, Gotch shares the empowering story of her unlikely path to becoming the creator and CCO of a multimillion-dollar brand. From her childhood in Florida where her early struggles with bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety, and ADD were misdiagnosed, to her winding career path as a waitress, photographer, food stylist, and finally, accidental entrepreneur, she illuminates how embracing her flaws and understanding the influence of mental illness on her creativity actually led to her greatest successes in business and life.
Hilarious, hyper-relatable, and filled with fascinating insights and hard-won wisdom on everything from why it’s okay to cry at work to the myth of busyness and perfection to the emotional rating system she uses every day, Gotch’s inspirational memoir dares readers to live each day with hope, optimism, kindness, and humor.
Author
Jen Gotch
Jen Gotch is the founder and chief creative officer of ban.do and an advocate for mental health and emotional well-being. In 2008, she founded ban.do with a friend, and with no prior business experience, was able to work with a small group of passionate people and transform it from a small hair accessories company into a beloved lifestyle brand that’s all about encouraging joy and personal growth. She lives in Los Angeles, California.
Related to The Upside of Being Down
Related audiobooks
The Hilarious World of Depression Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Overcoming the Mom-Life Crisis: Ditch the Guilt, Put Yourself on the To-Do List, and Create a Life You Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Overwhelmed and Over It: Embrace Your Power to Stay Centered and Sustained in a Chaotic World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Other Side of Me: Memoir of a Bipolar Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nobody Cares: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's Okay to Laugh: (Crying is Cool Too) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There I Am: The Journey from Hopelessness to Healing—A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No One Tells You This: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Happy Endings: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Know What I'm Doing -- and Other Lies I Tell Myself: Dispatches from a Life Under Construction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Miss You When I Blink: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unwifeable: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: One Introvert's Year of Saying Yes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conversations with People Who Hate Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I'd Tell in Bars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to be Alone: If You Want to, and Even If You Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rude: Stop Being Nice and Start Being Bold Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Craigslist Confessional: A Collection of Secrets from Anonymous Strangers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Welcome to the United States of Anxiety: Observations from a Reforming Neurotic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Vibes Only: (and Other Things I Bring to the Table) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Deserve the Truth: Change the Stories that Shaped Your World and Build a World-Changing Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hi, Anxiety: Life With a Bad Case of Nerves Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Personal Memoirs For You
The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Summer of Fall: Gravity is a bitch, but I'm still standing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Upside of Being Down
Rating: 4.32 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
75 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow! Entertaining, Relatable and Enlightening! Leaves you feeling like the end of a feel good romcom! Yet she is real and I love that about her!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It’s light and deep at the same time. Hilarious and sobering. Relatable.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Probably one of the best books I’ve listen to for someone who is completely honest and truthful and doesn’t just spout scientific facts about mental illness, I have recommended it to multiple people!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I LOVED this book! I have so much in common with the author & I am diagnosed with the same exact mental illnesses. Nobody took me seriously or believed me. Nobody takes me seriously now. I have no support system at all. While I laughed at quite a few parts of this book, I cried for the majority of it realizing that I’m not alone, but how much a support system is & having a supportive husband. My husband puts me down instead! ?
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I had (and donated) the hardcover. It wasn't as relatable as I thought it would be.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I love you Jen Gotch <3
Thank you so much! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Love this book! It made me feel seen and understood. Thank you!