An Inviting Look at Overcoming Despair and Living with Hope
When you're living with mental illness, the world can seem like a dark and hopeless place. As a therapist, I find inspiration in the stories of resilience in not only my own clients, but in others who share with the world at large. It is this kind of sharing that helps to chip away at the crippling stigma that any of us feel when we struggle to say, "I am not okay."
This sense of despair and lack of hope is somethings that's so appropriately engaged in Dennis C. Miller's memoir, Moppin' Floors to CEO: From Hopelessness and Failure to Happiness and Success.As the title suggest, this book is an epic story of odyssean proportions. As a young man living in New Jersey, Miller struggled with an abusive father. As is often the case with children of abuse, Miller struggled with depression in his younger years, trying his best to move throughout live despite his tumultuous family life. He suffered to feel good about himself and struggled in school. Many didn't notice that he was suffering. It was the abuse that also led Miller trying to kill his father. The depression led him to hospitalization at the age of 20. This intervention, it seems, was the moment in which Miller's life changed forever.
This doesn't mean that Miller's life was without more bumps in the road. Further self-deprecation and difficulties at work are hallmarks of Miller's story. Through it all, he somehow powers his way through all life's challenges.In Moppin' Floors to CEO, Miller talks openly about his time in treatment. Throughout his life, he comes to terms with the value of therapy and credits his investment in therapy as critical to his success. He reminisces fondly of his therapists, the people who served as beacons of light throughout his various life stages. For Miller, it seems there is no place in stigma when it comes to mental health care. He has lived and reaped the benefits of engaging in therapy and he has a successful career and loving family to show for it.
The beauty in Miller's story is not just the trajectory of his life and the bumps in the road, it is also his simplicity and undeniable charm that makes Moppin' Floors to CEO such a gem. Miller's story is accessible. It is a new, untold American story that few have heard before.Through it all, the journey with Miller is an enjoyable one and the pay off is powerful. In the end pages of his incredible story, it's easy to feel the reality of a man musing about his life's work and his family. His revelations about hope and health are compelling, even when they are not explicitly expressed. Miller's voice is strikingly clear and for anyone who is seeking hope in living a full life when faced with mental illness, Miller's story is a much-needed antidote to shame and hopelessness.
You can learn more about Dennis C. Miller and his work at his website DennisCMiller.com.