Surviving: Finding Your Way from Grief to Healing

by Gary Sturgis

The death of a spouse or close loved one is one of the most devastating experiences an individual suffers. Whether it is sudden or after a prolonged illness, the death and subsequent grief are life-changing. One day you’re together, and the next day you’re not. You feel like life will never be “normal” again. Author Gary Sturgis knows first-hand the pain of grief after becoming a widower in his early 50s. He suffered profound sadness along with anger, guilt, loneliness, confusion, and heartache to name just a few. But Gary found his way from grief to healing and is surviving after his loss. You can too. In his book, Gary shares intimate details of the personal stages he encountered through his grief journey. Along the way, he learned how to continually move forward and honor his loved one by talking about death, handling his emotions, and sharing special stories and experiences. He reveals how he progressed over time from feeling deep anguish to healing from grief to living a life that has joy, happiness, and peace again. Throughout the book, Gary offers you reassuring guidance and comforting advice as you travel through your personal grief journey. He uses his own path to healing as a reference together with lessons learned as a health care professional and volunteer grief counselor helping others.

152 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 2, 2020

About the author

Gary Sturgis survived the greatest loss of his life and now works as a Bereavement Facilitator guiding and supporting others in their struggle with grief.
Facilitating both Support Groups and Workshops, he finds it a gift to be able to help others navigate their way through the maze of grief in a very personal and meaningful way. He lives by the ocean in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a compassionate and practical book for everyone. Gary writes of his own grief journey as he helps others. Being a teacher for 30 years and losing my husband, my best friend, over 20 years ago makes me appreciate how clear and true Gary’s words are. Sage wisdom and kind comfort are found here.

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Losing my husband suddenly 2 months ago was so awful, and although no book can have all the answers in this situation, this book has really helped me on my grief journey and gives me hope for the future. Highly recommended for anyone who has lost a loved one!

[James LaVeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gary and I had very similar experiences in our approach to grieving. This book is full of easy-to-digest pieces of advice that anyone can use to adapt to their healing process.

Gary is straight-forward in his advice, which again I appreciate. He explains a lot of the grieving processes in non-clinical language, which makes this book to easy to read.

As a fellow author in the same genre, I was happy to see another book and author address grief and healing so well.

If you, or someone you know is grieving, or caring for someone at the end stages of life, this is a resource worth having.

[Andrea Colman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Gary

Thank you Gary for making me feel that I'm not alone, that everything I'm feeling after the loss of my husband is normal. He was my soul mate and we were together for almost 52 years.
I bought this book after following Gary on his Facebook page. He has helped me to understand my grief and to realise that I will always grieve for my husband and always miss him, but I will be able to find some enjoyment in my life moving forward and take him and my wonderful memories with me wherever I go. I'm not there yet but I'm taking Gary's advice and taking one day at a time.
I highly recommend this book.

[Cilicia A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it a helpful, easy read, when taken in small segments. It was good to read another person’s perspective on loss, and I loved how encouraging he was of everyone working through grief if their own way.

[Becki · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s a reason they call it surviving

I want to thank Gary for sharing his very personal experiences as a way to guide me through my grief. Even though it is coming up on 5 years, this book was very relevant and helpful.

[Linda Novelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book a bit each morning for the past several weeks. I am glad that I discovered it.