Grief and Beyond

By Juliet Wright

I wrote this book to help people going through grief. My husband passed away from Pancreatic Cancer and this is what helped me get through this and how I turned my life around after his passing into being a positive and inspirational person who likes to help people going through the same thing I went through. If you get anything from my book I hope it will give you hope on your darkest days, and know that you can bring some light and positivity back into your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Dec 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781982292867

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Juliet Wright.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-9285-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-9286-7 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 12/01/2021

Contents

Chapter 1 The Beginning

Chapter 2 Our Story

Chapter 3 Our Path Together

Chapter 4 The Realisation

Chapter 5 The Grief

Chapter 6 What to look for

Chapter 7 How to Support

Chapter 8 No time when it happened

Chapter 9 The unexpected

Chapter 10 Beginning a new chapter

Chapter 11 Freedom – Healing

Chapter 12 Where to next

Introduction

I would like to thank you for taking this journey with me. I hope that by reading my book it will help you get some clarity and insight into your own grief journey through understanding my own experiences in dealing with grief and supporting sick and dying people, and how I have changed my life.

This book is about my journey with the love of my life and our children, and losing him to Pancreatic Cancer. How I came out the other side of tragedy and sorrow and turned my life around, without my beloved partner by my side.

Writing this book has helped me delve into parts of myself and my memories which I hadn’t realised I had or remembered, until now. My writing journey has been a cathartic experience for me and has allowed me to remember him in such a special way.

Preface

I decided to write this book to honour my late husband John and all the wonderful memories and the life we shared together. I went through some very tough times, and if I can help other people on their darkest days to see some light then, to me, this book will be a success. Writing this book has helped me heal some painful memories I had locked inside for so long, but also shares how I regained my strength and found myself able to move forward again and make changes in my life without John in it.

Disclaimer – I have changed some of the names and personal details in the manuscript which don’t affect the content of my story.

Acknowledgements

Firstly, I would like to thank my amazing friends who without their love and support to go after my dreams and write this book would not have been possible.

Gail Sulicich my ex-boss and friend who has written the foreword for my book, which means the world to me.

Nan Berrett – Word Solutions for editing and proofreading my book

Foreword

In June 2010 my husband passed after a few very painful months suffering through Leukemia. I was a young widow, traumatised, no job and lost in my grief. That grief is still with me but I live with it now and try not to fight it. Whilst its easier it can still jump out and bite when I least expect it to.

Thankfully after six months I found a great job and started in what would be the most fun and rewarding job I’d ever had as Chief Executive of a small not for profit. Starting on day one I met some amazing people and was finding my way around the organisation. Juliet Wright had been with the small organisation since its inception as Finance Officer and was friendly and helpful in my endeavour to learn the business and build the business. Juliet and I worked well as a team and we both grew our skills and friendship.

Juliet’s husband, John, had been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and was a young man. Life throws us curve balls all the time and certainly isn’t fair. Juliet and John were lovely and he would come into the office to help us with maintenance and I was deeply saddened when he passed. Juliet was 44. In lots of ways I think we helped each other through some of the grieving and also formed a connection as part of life’s journey.

Eleven years later and the organisation is closed, I’ve moved interstate to start another chapter in my life and Juliet has grown as a person. Being a Bookkeeper and Financial Controller doesn’t always lead people to writing a book about their personal journey, particularly such an intimate part of their life but Juliet has done that. Her growth as a human being has been exceptional and she has stepped into her new life as a woman who knows who she is and what she wants. Juliet is a small business owner, determined to help people be who they want to be. Juliet does Tarot/Oracle Reading, Reiki, Numerology and Sensory markets plus Bookkeeping; what a mix. All this as part of her healing her grief and creating her life path.

We all have a story in us, Juliet has taken the initiative to tell part of her story. It hasn’t been easy for her I’m sure but she is a strong determined woman on a growth pathway.

I commend Juliet’s story to you and trust that if you are going through grief, life changes or some of those things life just throws at us this book might just provide you with some insights.

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The Beginning

My story begins when I was introduced to grief and loss at a young age. I lost my grandmother, who I was really close to, even though she lived thousands of miles away in England. She died when I was 11. She was my mum’s mother, and she used to visit us at Christmas time and come on family holidays with us to Queensland, but as a child I think I didn’t quite understand or get affected by her death as much as if I had been an adult.

My Nanna (Freda) was a gentle, quiet lady who loved to give you beautiful hugs. I don’t remember a lot else about her, but she was always very loving. I remember the special Christmas’s we would spend with her, which towards the end of her life were very frequent. She got diagnosed with stomach cancer and died from this terrible disease when she was only 60 years old. We never got to say goodbye to her, as she died in England. My mum was in England when she passed, but my two sisters and I stayed at home in Australia with our dad. We didn’t attend her funeral. Nanna left my mum and dad some money, so we were able to travel the world thanks to her. We travelled to America, Hawaii, Canada and England. It was a memorable holiday which we could not have done if it wasn’t for her generosity.

I didn’t understand what grief was really all about when I was a child, and maybe, in hindsight, I never learned how to grieve the loss of someone special to me. There are no guidebooks available on how to grieve for someone you have lost when you are a child.

I never knew my granddad (George) on my mum’s side because he died from a stroke when he was only 42 years old and my mum was only 9, but he is now one of my spirit guides on my journey. He died a long time before I was born.

I also lost both grandparents on my dad’s side, my grandad (John) when I was 18 and my grandmother (Grace) when I was 30, but I hadn’t been as close to them as I was to Nanna on mum’s side, so their deaths didn’t affect me the same way. I think, if I had had a different relationship with them, I would have grieved differently. I remember them coming to Australia from England for holidays but they were not as