This is the story of one man’s gradual awakening. But it’s not just about him. It’s an invitation for others to discover the eternal truths hidden within us and in plain sight all around us.

Tom Pedulla’s odyssey begins in the 1980s, when he walks away from a successful career in advertising to seek a more meaningful life. But first, he has to undo the conditioning he received growing up in an upwardly mobile Italian American family and the money-driven culture of capitalism. This isn’t easy. Finally, after volunteering on a suicide prevention hotline, getting divorced and remarried, and spending countless hours on a meditation cushion and in the offices of some very good psychotherapists, he goes back to school and becomes a therapist himself.

Along the way, he has to deal with his skeptical parents, a harsh inner critic named Brutus, and an unscrupulous guru who tries to turn him into one of her followers. He also comes to terms with his misguided attempts to find love and his struggles with anxiety, depression, and self-doubt.

With humor and heartfelt emotion, Waking Up Is Hard to Do will take you on a journey of self-discovery you won’t soon forget.