My husband passed away from a rare form of lymphoma when I was 36 years old. From the time he was diagnosed until the time he passed away was just 5 1/2 months. I was left to raise three kids, all under the age of four while working full time and managing a home all on my own.

Life felt hard. I was constantly exhausted, depressed, and very, very lonely.

I was living day-to-day and yet wanting so much more out of life. To make things worse, I kept thinking about how my husband didn’t get to live the rest of his life. Yet, here I was, merely surviving mine.

I didn’t even know what would make me happy anymore.

And, I was going down Alice’s rabbit hole, into that dark pit of despair, all of the time.

So I went to grief counseling. Three different grief counselors, to be exact. They all validated my right to feel sad, depressed, and lonely, but they didn’t help me move forward.

And then I picked up a book that launched me on a new path. It piqued my interest in mindfulness, metaphysics, and so much more.

I started devouring all kinds of techniques on how to feel relief instead of despair, tools on how to figure out what might make me happy on my own, and practices I could use to build positive momentum in life.

I tried them all, tossing what didn’t work and keeping what did.

Learning these strategies over the course of 4-5 years and putting them into practice helped me climb out of survival mode. Hiring a life coach is what helped me to thrive.

In fact, life coaching played such a pivotal role in my journey that I decided to become a certified life coach. I now help others get to the same great place I’m in through one-on-one guidance and support—plus online courses, a private Facebook group called Widows & Widowers Seeking Happiness, and more!