This is the story of one man’s journey to deal with the mental and emotional trauma he used to try to hide and to find a way to make a better life for himself and his family through faith, education, and a continual commitment to better understand and champion mental health issues. The tale begins during his formative years. He often fell a little behind in school and was picked on by his teachers and peers. Often, this would result in bullying and corporal punishment. He learned to be stoic and quiet as a defensive measure. As he got older and entered the later years of school, he found that creating the persona, or mask, of the class clown often diverted the kind of negative attention that was causing him distress. He learned to hide his true emotions and pain.

After school, a trade school education opened him up to a new world of being a stylist, which brought both relief and new masks. Finding quick success and an improved lifestyle brought the kind of partying and chemical abuse that was used as another cover for his true feelings. The author had to escape this lifestyle and turned towards a deeper faith to give him a new direction. However, his struggles were far from over. Family and business issues continued to plague him, and routine surgery led to a coma and a lengthy hospital stay. During the coma, the author experienced visions that would have a profound and lasting effect on his life.

Memoirs, where authors talk about their childhood, including parenting, schooling, and the effects these had on them, are plentiful. Veglio’s book begins much like this and then transitions to a more adult look at continued experience with mental health distress as well as a more detailed experience of a coma. Books such as these have carved a significant niche in the literary landscape. For example, Jeanette Walls’ The Glass Castle is a noted memoir that dramatically details the childhood and education of a family living like nomads. Another popular book with similar themes is When I Woke Up: One Man’s Unbreakable Spirit to Survive by Paul Evans. Both Veglio and Evans talk about battling with childhood bullies and learning issues. They also both experienced vivid visions while in comas. The authors use their experiences as tools to help motivate others to never give up and never stop fighting. Each book is intended as inspirational work to help guide and inspire the reader in their own personal journey.

Veglio’s work is mostly free of grammatical issues and is written in the kind of language one expects when listening to a motivational speaker. There are a lot of call-to-action phrases and motivational terms often found in speeches. In a thought-provoking transition, Veglio breaks from his narrative to briefly discuss technology and how its advancement can be detrimental to mental health, as seen during the pandemic lockdown. Readers looking for a relatively brief and to-the-point motivational story consumable in one sitting will find this book meets that need. Veglio’s story may give someone the courage to take a deeper look at issues that may be affecting their own well-being.

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