Preview
  • The Upside of Being Down

  • How Mental Health Struggles Led to My Greatest Successes in Work and Life
  • By: Jen Gotch
  • Narrated by: Jen Gotch
  • Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (268 ratings)

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The Upside of Being Down

By: Jen Gotch
Narrated by: Jen Gotch
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Publisher's summary

A New York Times best seller

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 listeners to live each day with hope, optimism, kindness, and humor.

©2020 Jen Gotch (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio
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What listeners say about The Upside of Being Down

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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book

I suffer from bipolar disorder myself, and I love to read. This was a great book with a balance of humor, realistic stories, and advice. I loved every minute of listening to it, and it held my attention which not every book can do. Would definitely recommend.

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Excellent book!

I loved this book, I’ve followed Jen Gotch for years and I have followed her struggles and successes. She is an inspiration for entrepreneurs and those with mental health issues, shedding light on an often difficult topic. Jen shows how managing everything is possible. I have always appreciated her candidness and this book brings out a much more in-depth look at her life’s story.

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Better than great, and less than perfect. 💗

What a wonderfully written and narrated book. Jen has you simultaneously educated and entertained. She’s someone who has full dug open her struggles, traumas, and mental health issues to the root to solve them the healthiest and best way possible.

Real. Raw. Valuable. & Life Changing.

Great job, Jen. Thanks for affecting so many people positively with your endless optimism.

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Good story and mental health info

I love the Jen gotch is OK sometimes podcast so I knew I had to listen to this. I wasn’t surprised that this was good and had Jens humor and vulnerability in it. I love the emotional rating scale. I’ve been doing some thing like that for the past seven years as well, since I was diagnosed with bipolar two as well.

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Loved it.

Thank you for your honesty, Jen Gotch. 💜 So many of your words resonated with me. I loved it and will return to this book again.

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A mirror

Thank you Jen for being you so fully and completely. This book is straight magic 💖

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THIS IS A MUST READ!!!

Jen Gotch gives you the real, raw emotions of real life — and what’s even better is that she’s publicly vulnerable and sharing that even after this book she is struggling. This is what real life and real hope looks like.

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Love!

I love this book so much. I’ve followed Jen Gotch and Bando for a while now and was so excited for this book to come out.
This book I can tell will help me in different ways however I need them in the future. I finished this book all the way through last week and I’m already thinking of listening to it again to get more nuggets of wisdom from Jen, who makes mental health a little bit more fun to navigate!
Thanks for putting this out there Jen, thanks for putting yourself out there to help others on their journeys.
This book is a bright light in the mental health arena. And as I’m typing this I’m realizing that’s why it’s called “The UPSIDE of being down” soooooooo yeah makes sense. Truly this book is about The Upside of Being Down.

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This book was so relatable!

I could not stop listening. The author reminded me so much of my self. Well Done!!

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Enjoyed this more than I thought I would

I’ve listened to a lot of these types of books. I gotta say, this one hit differently! I found myself going back if I was mildly distracted with cleaning. I also laughed, nodded and talked to Jen as if she were in my living room. Definitely would recommend and would revisit this one.

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