You Gotta Be You: How to Embrace This Messy Life and Step Into Who You Really Are
Audible's Best of the Year in Well-Being

YOU ARE ENOUGH EXACTLY AS YOU ARE.


​           From the time we’re born, a litany of do’s and don’ts are placed on us by our families, our communities, and society. We’re required to fit into boxes based on our race, gender, sexuality, and other parts of our identities, being told by others how we should behave, who we should date, or what we should be interested in. For so many of us, those boxes begin to feel like shackles when we realize they don’t fit our unique shape, yet we keep trying because we crave acceptance and validation. But is “fitting in” worth the time, energy, and suffering? Actor, writer, and activist Brandon Kyle Goodman says, Hell no it ain’t!
 
As a Black nonbinary, queer person in a dark-skinned 6’1”, 180-pound male body born into a religious immigrant household, Brandon knows the pain of having to hide one’s true self, the work of learning to love that true self, and the freedom of finally being your true self.
 
In You Gotta Be You, Brandon affectionately challenges you to consider, “Who would I be if society never got its hands on me?” This question set Brandon on a mission to dropkick societal shackles by unlearning all the things he was told he should be in order to step into who he really is. It required him to reexamine messy but ultimately defining moments in his life—his first time being followed in a store, navigating his mother’s born-again Christianity, and regretfully using soap as lube (yes, you read that right!)—to find the lessons that would guide him to his most authentic self.
 
Compassionate and soulful, funny and revealing, You Gotta Be You is an unapologetic call to self-freedom. It’s about turning rejection (from others and yourself) into a roadmap to self-love. It’s a guide to setting boundaries and fostering self-growth. And most importantly, it’s an affirmation that we are enough exactly as we are.
 
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You Gotta Be You: How to Embrace This Messy Life and Step Into Who You Really Are
Audible's Best of the Year in Well-Being

YOU ARE ENOUGH EXACTLY AS YOU ARE.


​           From the time we’re born, a litany of do’s and don’ts are placed on us by our families, our communities, and society. We’re required to fit into boxes based on our race, gender, sexuality, and other parts of our identities, being told by others how we should behave, who we should date, or what we should be interested in. For so many of us, those boxes begin to feel like shackles when we realize they don’t fit our unique shape, yet we keep trying because we crave acceptance and validation. But is “fitting in” worth the time, energy, and suffering? Actor, writer, and activist Brandon Kyle Goodman says, Hell no it ain’t!
 
As a Black nonbinary, queer person in a dark-skinned 6’1”, 180-pound male body born into a religious immigrant household, Brandon knows the pain of having to hide one’s true self, the work of learning to love that true self, and the freedom of finally being your true self.
 
In You Gotta Be You, Brandon affectionately challenges you to consider, “Who would I be if society never got its hands on me?” This question set Brandon on a mission to dropkick societal shackles by unlearning all the things he was told he should be in order to step into who he really is. It required him to reexamine messy but ultimately defining moments in his life—his first time being followed in a store, navigating his mother’s born-again Christianity, and regretfully using soap as lube (yes, you read that right!)—to find the lessons that would guide him to his most authentic self.
 
Compassionate and soulful, funny and revealing, You Gotta Be You is an unapologetic call to self-freedom. It’s about turning rejection (from others and yourself) into a roadmap to self-love. It’s a guide to setting boundaries and fostering self-growth. And most importantly, it’s an affirmation that we are enough exactly as we are.
 
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You Gotta Be You: How to Embrace This Messy Life and Step Into Who You Really Are

You Gotta Be You: How to Embrace This Messy Life and Step Into Who You Really Are

by Brandon Kyle Goodman
You Gotta Be You: How to Embrace This Messy Life and Step Into Who You Really Are

You Gotta Be You: How to Embrace This Messy Life and Step Into Who You Really Are

by Brandon Kyle Goodman

Hardcover

$29.00 
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Overview

Audible's Best of the Year in Well-Being

YOU ARE ENOUGH EXACTLY AS YOU ARE.


​           From the time we’re born, a litany of do’s and don’ts are placed on us by our families, our communities, and society. We’re required to fit into boxes based on our race, gender, sexuality, and other parts of our identities, being told by others how we should behave, who we should date, or what we should be interested in. For so many of us, those boxes begin to feel like shackles when we realize they don’t fit our unique shape, yet we keep trying because we crave acceptance and validation. But is “fitting in” worth the time, energy, and suffering? Actor, writer, and activist Brandon Kyle Goodman says, Hell no it ain’t!
 
As a Black nonbinary, queer person in a dark-skinned 6’1”, 180-pound male body born into a religious immigrant household, Brandon knows the pain of having to hide one’s true self, the work of learning to love that true self, and the freedom of finally being your true self.
 
In You Gotta Be You, Brandon affectionately challenges you to consider, “Who would I be if society never got its hands on me?” This question set Brandon on a mission to dropkick societal shackles by unlearning all the things he was told he should be in order to step into who he really is. It required him to reexamine messy but ultimately defining moments in his life—his first time being followed in a store, navigating his mother’s born-again Christianity, and regretfully using soap as lube (yes, you read that right!)—to find the lessons that would guide him to his most authentic self.
 
Compassionate and soulful, funny and revealing, You Gotta Be You is an unapologetic call to self-freedom. It’s about turning rejection (from others and yourself) into a roadmap to self-love. It’s a guide to setting boundaries and fostering self-growth. And most importantly, it’s an affirmation that we are enough exactly as we are.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780306826191
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication date: 09/27/2022
Pages: 224
Sales rank: 490,996
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

About The Author
BRANDON KYLE GOODMAN (he/they) is an actor, writer, and activist. He’s best known for his roles on Netflix’s smash-hit animated comedy series Big Mouth and its spin-off Human Resources, Amazon’s Modern Love, Hulu’s Plus One, and Netflix’s Feel the Beat. Goodman has been featured in the New York Times, Esquire, Well+Good,Out, Bustle, Buzzfeed, and many more.

Table of Contents

Introduction xiii

1 Being Messy Is Not Just for Mondays 1

2 Fern 17

3 The Man 37

4 They 53

5 YouOnSomeFuckShitVille 59

6 Author's Note: Holding Space 77

7 Gay Stuff 83

8 Author's Note: Boundaries 103

9 Life Is Hard. We All Deserve Help. 109

10 Make It Home 129

11 The Gorgeous Swan You Are 145

12 Pride and Joy 163

13 Three-Fifths 183

14 You Gotta Be You 185

Acknowledgments 193

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