Falling Upwards: Living the Dream, One Panic Attack at a Time

Living one’s dream; being successful and respected in your field; making waves and creating something new and fresh that is inclusive, engaging, and community-centered: restaurateur and entrepreneur Fall accomplished all this before he turned 30. He grew up near Los Angeles’s Skid Row, assisting his mother at a small restaurant. As an adult, his first successful enterprise was a pop-up nightclub that reset Los Angeles’s nightlife, and he went on to establish more than a dozen restaurants and bars around the country. The more successful Fall became, though, the more he felt that something was missing, as he describes here. He also developed a terrible cough, which flared up at those times in his life when he was making important career decisions. He thought he had a handle on whatever it was until he suffered a full-blown panic attack and sought help. Fall’s memoir is candid about who he is and what he has experienced in his journey to healing. He admits his apprehension about deciding to get therapy and offers suggestions for channeling one’s unruly thoughts into positive action.