Breathing Room: One Man's Path From Performance To Presence Offers A Candid Memoir Of Identity And Renewal
Breathing Room: One Man's Path from Performance to Presence
After a life defined by achievement, Tedd C. Simmons, Ph.D., shares the reckoning that led him back to truth, breath, and presence.
NEW YORK CITY, NY, UNITED STATES, March 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- With recent surveys showing that more than 40% of American workers report chronic burnout and an increasing number of professionals voluntarily stepping back from high status careers, Tedd C. Simmons, Ph.D., delivers a deeply reflective and timely memoir with Breathing Room: One Man’s Path from Performance to Presence, published by selfpublishing.com on February 3, 2026. The 153 page memoir (ISBN 979 8896949916; ASIN B0GCSDVJY8) is available on Amazon as a Kindle eBook with Screen Reader support and Word Wise enabled, as well as in paperback and hardcover editions, and is categorized under Memoir, Personal Growth, and Spirituality. Readers can secure their copy on Amazon here: https://a.co/d/0hN88Qcp.
Through vulnerability, spiritual insight, and hard earned wisdom, Simmons chronicles a life shaped by expectation and achievement, and the personal reckoning that ultimately led him toward authenticity and renewal.
For decades, Simmons excelled in roles that carried visibility and responsibility. As both a minister and corporate executive, he lived a life defined by leadership, structure, and service. From the outside, his world appeared steady and successful. Yet beneath the surface, questions about identity and alignment persisted. When a near fatal health crisis abruptly disrupted his carefully maintained life, the illusion of control dissolved, forcing him to confront truths he could no longer ignore.
In Breathing Room, Simmons recounts this turning point with candor and clarity. The medical emergency became more than a physical battle. It marked the beginning of a profound internal shift. Stripped of titles and expectations, he began examining the difference between living from performance and living from presence. Through luminous prose and piercing self awareness, he explores how achievement can become a mask, how faith can evolve through doubt, and how breath itself can become a practice of returning to one’s truest self.
“For most of my life, I measured my worth by what I produced and how well I performed,” says Simmons. “It took nearly losing everything my health, my sense of self to realize that the life I’d built was running on a script someone else had written. Breathing Room is my attempt to be honest about that reckoning, and to offer companionship to anyone walking a similar path.”
Comparable in emotional depth to works such as Untamed, Falling Upward, and The Velvet Rage, Breathing Room speaks to anyone who has questioned who they are supposed to be, and who they truly are. Simmons’ story affirms that collapse can become clarity, and that stepping away from constant striving can open the door to a more grounded, present life.
Early Reader Praise
“This book is brilliantly written. Be prepared for the emotions it will invoke in you as you read through the pages. This book will change you; it will encourage that soul to release itself. I could not put this book down and immediately ordered more copies for my family and friends.”
— Maureen Viano, Five Star Amazon Review
“Tedd does such a beautiful job of weaving his story that while the details of my story differ, his story nevertheless becomes my story. This is a book for all who long to live a life of authenticity and freedom.”
— John Perella, Five Star Amazon Review
“Simmons’ writing is gentle yet powerful, offering a soothing escape from the chaos of modern life. Breathing Room does not just teach you how to breathe deeply; it encourages you to breathe freely, with a renewed sense of peace and understanding.”
— L. Bell, Five Star Amazon Review
At its heart, the book asks a universal question: What happens when the life you have built becomes too small to contain who you really are? Simmons answers with honesty and hope, showing that making space to breathe can be the first step toward living fully, loving more freely, and inhabiting the truth beneath the performance.
About The Author
Tedd C. Simmons, Ph.D., has spent more than two decades at the intersection of faith, leadership, and personal development. An ordained minister and former senior executive, he has led congregations, managed teams, and navigated the pressures of institutional life at the highest levels. His doctoral research focused on the relationship between spiritual identity and professional performance.
Following a life altering health crisis, Simmons stepped away from the trajectory he had long maintained to explore the deeper questions of identity, presence, and authenticity that now define his work. He speaks and writes on topics including burnout and recovery, faith after deconstruction, and the courage to live beyond performance. Breathing Room is his first book.
The book is now available — secure your copy here: https://a.co/d/0hN88Qcp
For review copies, interview requests, or media inquiries, please contact:
Tedd C. Simmons, Ph.D.
BrightKey PR
info@NorthPointCoaching.onmicrosoft.com
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