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How to Breathe While Suffocating. A Story Of Overcoming Addiction, Recovering From Trauma, and Healing My Soul. Edition No. 1

  • Book

  • 240 Pages
  • April 2024
  • John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • ID: 5899682

Let go of negativity, rediscover your inherent worth, and unlock your true potential

How To Breathe While Suffocating is your antidote to the all-too-common tendency to surrender, giving up on your life’s ambitions. You don’t have to give up! For anyone who has gotten caught in the trap of “I can’t do it,” this book reminds you that you are enough, you possess value, and your unique ability to engage with the world can and will get you to where you want to be. Through simple positive affirmations, unflinching first-person stories, and insightful analysis, author Bruce W. Brackett helps you focus on the positive and keep moving forward.

Society today is experiencing a hidden pandemic of loneliness, disconnection, and resistance to recovery. After the life-altering shutdowns of COVID-19, many of us have simply remained in shutdown mode. This book uses universal concepts, expressed through engaging narrative, to help you grapple with issues like mental health, isolation, gender identity, disconnection, and the overwhelming sense of negativity for our collective future. By the end, you’ll learn to turn it around and get back to the business of living. The message of How to Breathe When Suffocating is simple - spread love, inhabit joy, and embrace the power of positivity.

  • Gain the inspiration you need to seize your potential, find confidence, and step into your authentic self
  • Change your outlook on life with simple slogans and mantras for developing a healthier, more positive attitude
  • Realize that you aren’t alone in your struggle, and see how others are finding the strength to move forward in difficult times
  • Read the compelling story of one man who overcame insurmountable odds and found salvation from negativity and self-doubt


After a two-decade healing journey of intensive trauma therapy, psychiatric treatment, and rehab, Bruce W. Brackett has emerged a survivor. Anyone in the midst of their own healing journey will resonate with benefit from his lived experience, portrayed here with intimate vulnerability and universal appeal.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Chapter 1 Born into It and Removed from It 1

Chapter 2 The Foster Family 13

Chapter 3 It Takes a Village, for Pain or Glory 21

Chapter 4 Bullies Be Gone! 35

Chapter 5 Am I a Star? Meh, Same Difference 43

Chapter 6 The Foot That Should Have Kicked Me 55

Chapter 7 The Runaway 63

Chapter 8 Journey to the Dream 75

Chapter 9 Oklahoma City 89

Chapter 10 Angels in Dallas 97

Chapter 11 A Flight to Freedom 109

Chapter 12 Boystown 119

Chapter 13 Salt Lake City 131

Chapter 14 Las Vegas, Do or Die 145

Chapter 15 On My Way 157

Chapter 16 The Diagnoses 167

Chapter 17 Hurricane Bruce 177

Chapter 18 Crystal in the Rain 191

Chapter 19 Photo Gallery 199

Epilogue 207

Resource Guide for Help Hotlines 213

Acknowledgments 217

About the Author 219

Index 221

Authors

Bruce W. Brackett