Breathing While Drowning: One Woman's Quest for Wholeness

by Veronica Strachan, Cassi Strachan (Illustrator)

Isolated in a small country town, Veronica is already struggling with motherhood, trapped under the yoke of an ordinary life. After her second daughter, Jacqueline is born with severe disabilities, every moment of every day becomes crowded with people and interventions to keep her alive and well. Despite all the intense love and care - and just before her fifth birthday - Jacqueline dies, and Veronica falls into an ocean of grief. Wishing to never feel the pain of loss again, her grief builds a wall that keeps her emotions safely locked away, until a brave confession offers the first chink of light in that impenetrable barrier. Gradually, aided by friends, mentors, books, and her own cathartic writing, Veronica feels the cold, hard lump of her heart respond. She begins to heal. Inside this poignant memoir, you’ll travel the ten stages of the Heroine’s Journey and learn how to acquire healing along the way. You'll discover how to find feeling and connection to the person you want and need to be. Raw journals, tools, and powerful lessons will guide and inspire you to follow your own quest for wholeness—in your own way, at your own pace. Breathing While One Woman’s Quest for Wholeness is a message of courage and hope. If you’re searching for practical advice and you’re ready to be guided through your own ‘ocean of grief’, then you’ll love Veronica Strachan’s sensitively written and uplifting book. Now you can also buy The Wholeness Quest Workbook & Journal and be guided through the ten signposts of the Heroine's Journey on your own self-discovery quest. You'll complete thought-provoking exercises and follow inspiring, engaging journal prompts to write yourself a new story and learn to listen to your inner voice – the one telling you to dream more, to do more, and to be more.

462 pages, Paperback

Published October 17, 2016

About the author

See also V.E. Patton (pen name)
Veronica is the author of Breathing While Drowning: One woman's quest for wholeness and The Wholeness Quest Workbook & Journal. With her daughter and illustrator Cassi Strachan she has a children's series The Adventures of Chickabella (Chickabella and the Rainbow Magic, Chickabella Counts to Ten & Chickabella Shapes Up).

Under her pen name V. E. Patton, she's published Ochre Dragon the first book in her epic fantasy series The Opal Dreaming Chronicles and a short story in Christmas Australis: A Frighteningly Festive Anthology of Jingling Tales, (an anthology of short stories by eight Aussie authors).

Veronica wrote stories and poems as soon as she learnt to read and her favourite place in the world was the local library.

Her dream of a writer's life was interrupted by the realities of life, death and grief. It was almost 20 years after the passing of her 4 year old daughter, Jacqui Bree, that she finally wrote and published her first book. With her second book on the shelves, she feels her dream has become a reality.

Now she balances her writing with coaching individuals and teams in leadership and change.

Veronica lives with her ever-patient and supportive husband of 38 years in their self-made mudbrick house. Though all three of their adult children have left home, somehow their dogs didn't. The current menagerie is 2 dogs, 2 cats, 5 chooks, 1 rooster, 2 possums, and assorted fish.

Travel and more travel is on the cards as soon as she finishes Soul Staff the second book in The Opal Dreaming Chronicles.

Reviews

[K.M. Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and inspiring, Breathing While Drowning chronicles the loss of Veronica Strachan’s almost 5-year-old daughter, Jacqui, who was born with a brain injury. This shifted the dynamics of the Strachan family as they learned a program of physical therapies to help Jacqui live in the world, and how she changed their lives forever. The book is written as real letters to Jacqui from the time she was born and as she grew, with the author looking at them again years later and giving some a fresher perspective. After Jacqui’s death, Veronica took twenty years to deal with her grief, and the rest of the book chronicles that journey. Disabilities, grief, hope, parent-guilt, finding yourself, deciding what you want from life, career successes, changes, and making yourself whole again after tragic loss aren’t easy subjects to tackle, but Veronica writes about them in a measured and inspiring way and makes picking this book up worthwhile.

[Kathleen Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breathing While Drowning describes the journey of a young couple whose second child is born with a brain injury. It is a story of great heart-break as the family structure their lives around the needs of this high-spirited and beautiful baby girl only to have her pass away just prior to her fifth birthday. Veronica describes the years of guilt and recrimination that swamp her for many years and her slow emergence from darkness to reclaim her life and her family. Throughout the book she shares the lessons she has learned. This is a story of great love and compassion and I felt honored to witness this journey.

[Clare Rhoden · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awe-inspiring and brave book.
A must-read for authentic inspiration and soul-searching.
I feel enriched by reading this, and very very grateful that it was written.
For mothers, daughters, partners, educators, health staff, colleagues, this is marvellous.
Do yourself good - read it.