-Gives a face to mental health issues: This story will resonate with the 1 in 5 adults in the United States who experience mental illness yet still encounter stigmas about mental illness in American workplaces and feel pressure to hide their symptoms and the stress it causes for fear of job loss and damaged relationships.

-A memoir with a unique angle: Not quite a sports memoir and atypical of memoirs depicting severe mental illness, this book weaves together suffering and salvation with humor and frankness. It’s a story of perseverance both on and off the mat.

-Detailed look into martial arts training: Of the people who begin martial arts, many drop out and even fewer achieve the rank of black belt, and there are few martial arts memoirs in the marketplace.