Westlock author tackles grief in latest offering

WESTLOCK — Twenty-six years after losing her daughter in a tragic car accident, Sharon Nadeau is using her grief to help others who have lost a loved one.  

Every day since, the local author has learned to cope with grief that has at times, overwhelmed her but has also helped provide the inspiration to write her second book entitled Riding the Waves of Grief: Strategies to Keep from Drowning, published in December 2021.     

“Because there were days that I was drowning. You have to experience it to really know what it is,” said Nadeau, pointing to her faith that helped her through the dark times and rise above those waves of grief. “As you don’t escape it, as you allow it to come to you then you know the next time’s not going to be as bad and it isn’t.”  

In her most recent book, which is a sequel to Get a Life that was published in 2003, Nadeau shares 12 strategies — one for each chapter, on how to deal with grief, heal and move forward. Nadeau received some encouragement from a fellow parishioner at her church to write the book, which she completed by secluding herself over a three-month period. The self-help, step-by-step publication is written from personal and professional experience.   

In the 18 years since her first book was published, Nadeau has carried on with her life, made many changes and learned much. Riding the Waves of Grief: Strategies to Keep from Drowning focuses on personal growth from her experiences over the last two decades, to living through grief and barely surviving to thriving. 

“I studied and dealt with lots of people. I was a marriage commissioner for the province of Alberta so I had joy in my life — that was another answer to prayer because I prayed that joy would come back to me. Writing a book isn’t just writing a book. You write it and you relive everything you write,” she said. “It was finding joy where there was no joy before.”

Nadeau enrolled in courses and studied to expand her knowledge about grief and has since become a certified grief counsellor and grief expert.   

“I wanted to rise above the clutter, the turmoil, and I wanted to understand,” said Nadeau. “Because when you lose a child, as when you lose anyone significant, what’s the point — what the heck is this life all about if it’s just to have a child, have her ripped from your arms and life goes on like nothing happened.”   

Her faith helped her understand that God did not want her to live in grief, pain and darkness, so she turned to Him for strength and found renewed hope for her life.  

“I can cry my story to you 1,000 times in a week but it ain’t going to change nothing. I wanted to go where I could be renewed, redeemed — I was always spiritual but never religious,” explained Nadeau. “The book is about hope … if there’s one thing you need desperately, it’s hope.”  

Nadeau’s legacy to her only daughter was to share how important she was to her family and to the world and that her life and death had meaning. Through the dark days, Nadeau continued, people need to know they will survive and get through tough times.    

“I want my daughter’s life and death to have made a difference and I wanted to do good by God who created me and who had a plan for my life,” she said. “I believe this happened to me so I could help others.”  

Both books are available on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com and can also be picked up at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Westlock, St. Benoit Catholic Church in Pickardville and the Westlock Funeral Home. It will soon be available at the Westlock Public Library, following a summer book signing there on July 29, from 2-4 p.m.