I got good at looking fine.

I was in a psych hospital at twenty. I have bipolar I. I have been laid off three times. I got sober. I went to treatment. For most of that, I was also at work, hitting a number, saying I was fine.

That is the whole reason any of this exists. The podcast started because I wanted to know if anyone else was doing the same math. 40+ conversations later, the answer is yes, almost everyone, and almost nobody says it out loud.

The book came out of the podcast. The songs come out of the same place. The consulting work is the part of my life where I am useful in a room, and I like that too. It is one story, told in five different formats.

You do not have to be in crisis to be tired of performing.