An urgent rallying cry to stop holding back and start living life on your terms.

Having finally achieved professional and financial success, Jen Pastiloff should have been content. She repeatedly told herself that her life was fine and that fine was enough. Mostly though, what she told herself was Who am I to think that I get to leave fine? Until one day, the muted voice saying that something was missing started screaming. She realized she’d been listening too long to the voice of Should. Enough was enough.

This book is Pastiloff’s account of how she radically changed her own life—leaving her marriage, taking risks professionally, and stepping out of her safe bubble when safety was all she’d ever wanted, after losing her beloved father when she was eight—while imparting her courage and wisdom to inspire readers to do the same. She shows us it is never too late to change the stories we think define us. The ones that deprive us of accepting greater love, fulfillment, and joy. Stories like: I don’t deserve this, I’m a bad daughter, No one will ever love me, I’m too old to change, to name a few.

Through this book, you learn how to quiet your Inner Asshole, participate in the cathartic process of Shame Loss, recognize your I Got You People, ignore the Imaginary Time Gods, use creativity as a portal into healing, and become your own Permission Slip. Complete with takeaways in Jen’s signature writing style, writing prompts, and poetry, Proof of Life is funny, inspiring, and full of love. It’s about showing up for yourself and for those around you, and remembering that change might hurt but it won’t kill you, and that you don’t have to provide any proof to show that you are worthy or deserving because: You are your own proof of life.