Zen Bender: A Decade-Long Enthusiastic Quest to Fix Everything (That Was Never Broken) (Self-Confidence for Women, Personal Growth)

by Stephanie Krikorian

Overview

Searching for That Self-Help High

“Inspiring and hilarious, Zen Bender perfectly captures our misguided quest for perfection….” — Patricia Velasquez, actress in Arrested Development and The Mummy, author of Straight Walk, supermodel, and UNESCO Artist for Peace.

Yahoo Finance Best Business Books of 2019 and #1 New Release in Yoga, Zen Philosophy, and Humor

Craving a quick fix. When the recession turned her life upside down, Stephanie Krikorian had to reinvent her life...and fast. She started ghostwriting self-help books for women. Between writing and researching she realized that everywhere she looked there was AFOG (another freaking opportunity for growth). Soon she wasn't just writing each book; she was living them. This was the start of a ten-year zen bender of dieting, dating, journaling, meditating, and Marie-Kondo-ing on a quest for that ultimate self-help high.

Fifty and fabulous. Stephanie Krikorian spent her forties trying all of the dating hacks to find love and respect, all of the diets to build self-esteem in a new body, and all of the spiritual guidance to become centered through self-care. On the brink of turning fifty she realized that being better wasn't what she craved; it was something else altogether.

A Self-confidence book for women. For anyone tired of promises to change everything in just thirty days, this book is a breath of fresh air. Zen Bender is the story of one woman's journey to radical acceptance, with some questionable advice along the way. A witty, moving, insightful story, the woman behind bestselling celebrity self-help books shares her story of being hooked on the self-help fix for a decade before learning that all the self-help in the world won't help you trust your gut.

Readers who enjoyed self-confidence books for women like The Universe Has Your Back, The Self-Love Experiment, or The Gifts of Imperfection; will love Zen Bender: A Decade-Long Enthusiastic Quest to Fix Everything (That Was Never Broken).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642500301
Publisher:	Mango Media
Publication date:	08/15/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	178
File size:	964 KB

About the Author

Stephanie Krikorian is a New York Times Best Selling ghostwriter, an Emmy-nominated reality television creator and executive producer. As a journalist, her work has appeared in the New York Post; O, The Oprah Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. She also was a producer at CNBC and BusinessWeek TV, WSJ.com, and Reuters. Stephanie studied Improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade, and when she's not at the keyboard she can be found on her paddle board or practicing yoga. She splits her time between New York City and East Hampton.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Note to Reader
Prologue

Part 1: Reeling

Chapter 1
My Gateway Drug: The Vision Board

Chapter 2
The End of Everything

Chapter 3
You Can Eat Your Dinner or Drink Your Dinner, But You Can’t Do Both

Part 2: Dealing

Chapter 4
Fat Women Don’t Get Frenched

Chapter 5
Numerologists, Clairvoyants, and Healers, Oh My!

Chapter 6
The Melrose Place of It All

Chapter 7
The Life-Changing Magic of Tapping into an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder You Didn’t Know You Had

Chapter 8
Never Judge a Clairvoyant by the Lampshade on Her Head

Chapter 9
No Diet Left Behind

Part 3: Healing

Chapter 10
When A-Types Spa

Chapter 11
Any Direct Flight

Chapter 12
The Beginning of Everything

Chapter 13
When Your Healer Jumps the Shark

Acknowledgments
About the Author

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The book is filled with humor and soul-baring honesty, as Krikorian describes her adventures down just about every self-help road there is. She vision-boarded, cleansed, saw healers and coaches, sound-bathed, Marie Kondo-ed her closet, dieted, had readings of all kinds, and found that the more she tried to fix herself, the more broken she felt. One of her concerns when writing books for others, was letting her own voice come through, but here she lets it shine." —The Independent

“I laughed and related to every page of this crazy mission to fix everything...that didn't need fixing. A wise, witty, and thought-provoking book that ends in just the place you'd hope it would. A great read whether you have a Reiki healer on speed dial, or, well, not.” —Marianne Power, author of Help Me! One Woman's Quest to Find Out if Self-Help Really Can Change Her Life

“Inspiring and hilarious, Zen Bender perfectly captures our misguided quest for perfection, as well as Stephanie’s amazing spirit. I face the same daily struggles, so her writing really hit home with me, as I’m sure it will with everyone who has tried (and laughed about) all the fixes out there.” — Patricia Velasquez, actress on Arrested Development and The Mummy, author of Straight Walk, supermodel, and UNESCO Artist for Peace.

“Have you Marie Kondo'd the heck out of your house? Made a vision board? Meditated? Enlisted a dating coach? Tried a somewhat off the wall diet? This book is for anyone who has ever embarked on a mission to "fix" themselves with the help of experts and classes and cleanses and sessions. It's a funny, charming, and HONEST look by Krikorian, who is a ghostwriter of self-help books, at the dizzying array of wellness and self-improvement offerings out there. She spent ten years on her "zen bender" in the hopes of finding love, prosperity, a trimmer waistline—name the brass ring, she went after it—and has lived to tell us her hilarious and heartfelt tale. A super fun, laugh-out-loud, relatable read!” —Sherri Rifkin, Author of Lovehampton

Interviews

My Decade Long Zen Bender Right around when I turned 40, everywhere I looked there was AFOG. Another f&@king opportunity for growth. And just like a bag of chips, I assumed that if all of those fixes were sitting right there in front of me, I should most definitely be consuming them. Not doing so seemed downright irresponsible. It started out innocently enough—with a gateway drug of sorts: the vision board. But my need for a quick hit soon ballooned into an insatiable craving for multiple fixes such as juice-fast retreats, coaches of all kinds, full-weeks Marie-Kondo’ing my house, journaling protocols, psychics, workshops, and self-help books. Like a meteor shower, the world was force-feeding me spiritual seminars, gurus, and life-altering reads, and I grabbed at them all, hoping for…well some big change so I could be better in every way humanly possible. All the fixes were so radical. No small steps, just monumental overhauls promised with a few weeks of work. For nearly a decade, I was on this high-speed chase with balance, enlightenment, growth, and betterment—over-guruing myself with near desperation in an effort to be the best I could be. It was a noisy decade that resulted in a couple of major Zen benders. And then, with the flick of a switch, I stopped thanks to an epiphany I had right before my 49th birthday. I realized that despite all the promises and pursuits, being better wasn’t what I craved; it was something else altogether.

Editorial Reviews

"The book is filled with humor and soul-baring honesty, as Krikorian describes her adventures down just about every self-help road there is. She vision-boarded, cleansed, saw healers and coaches, sound-bathed, Marie Kondo-ed her closet, dieted, had readings of all kinds, and found that the more she tried to fix herself, the more broken she felt. One of her concerns when writing books for others, was letting her own voice come through, but here she lets it shine." - The Independent

"This book was super fun. Stephanie is so funny and goes over how she has legit done it all to find her zen. I soooo related when she mentioned stuff like Marie Kondo! At the end of the day though this book is a great and encouraging read that reminds us all that we're just trying our best to get through each day and hopefully find some zen in between the chaos." - Ask Away Blog

"the writing is open and honest feels like a friend helping you through your own struggles. If you are trying to find a way to feel more focused in life this book shows just how you can get yourself to a point of self acceptance, while also warning you about the pitfalls that might appear along the way." - Nerdy Girl Express

From the Publisher