The world knows Victoria Arlen as the ultimate comeback story.
Written off as a lost cause after spending four years in a vegetative state, she defied every odd and learned to walk again, returned to competitive swimming, won medals and built a high-profile career in television and public speaking. What the world never saw was the struggle that came after the miracle.
In her raw and powerful book, The View Is Worth It: Unlocking the Beauty in Life’s Peaks and Valleys , Victoria shares for the time the hidden chapter of her story: the decade-long battle with anxiety, depression, PTSD, panic attacks, suicidal ideation and the crushing pressure of being labeled “the successful survivor.” At the height of her career, appearing on major TV networks, traveling the world, checking every box of success, Arlen found herself in what she calls “Rock-Bottomville,” silently wanting to end her life. “The truth is, mental health struggles don’t care about what you have, who you are or even what you’ve overcome,” says Arlen, “You can have success and still struggle immensely. Sometimes when you get to the ‘top,’ you still feel broken and discover even tougher elevations ahead.”
The View Is Worth It speaks directly to the growing mental health crisis among younger adults, confronting a dangerous cultural narrative that resilience, faith, achievement or gratitude makes health struggles disappear. With raw honesty and hard-won hope, Arlen reminds readers that healing is not linear and that it’s okay to not be okay.
Where it all began…
In Victoria’s first book Locked In: The will to survive and the resolve to live — Victoria shares her courageous and miraculous story of recovery after falling into a mysterious vegetative state at age eleven and how she broke free nearly four years later, overcoming the odds and never giving up hope, eventually living a full and inspiring life.
When Victoria Arlen was eleven years old, she contracted two rare diseases simultaneously and fell into a mysterious vegetative state. For two years her mind was dark, but in the third year, her mind broke free, and she was able to think clearly and to hear and feel everything—but no one knew.
When she was fifteen years old, against all odds and medical predictions, she was finally able to communicate through eye blinks, and she began the slow and painful climb back to life. She faced the devastating reality of paralysis from the waist down because of damage to her spine. However, Victoria didn’t lose her strength or steadfast determination, and two years later, she won a gold medal for swimming at the London 2012 Games.
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