Jill-Anne Hachey, a parent, full-time behavior supporter for Sudbury Catholic District School Board and the owner of two businesses, didn’t have enough to do so she has just published a book.
Called A Space of Gratitude: Twelve Truths on Life and Loss to Awaken Your Beautiful Soul, the book details her own personal grieving journey. As busy as her schedule is juggling four different roles, she said she felt compelled to write and publish the book to help those who might be in a similar stage of life as she once was.
The last decade hasn’t been easy for Hachey, having lost her father, her grandfather and a close friend. It wasn’t until 2015 that she realized she couldn’t ignore those feelings of hurt and grief any longer.
In 2015, she first experienced panic attacks.
“I had two major panic attacks. And it helped me realize I wasn't addressing something going on in my life, which ended up being the loss of my dad,” Hachey told Sudbury.com in a phone interview.
Hachey lost her father, Gilles Hachey, in March, 2009, just a year after she had given birth to her daughter.
“I really thought I was dying (from the panic attacks). Like I was convinced that I was having heart issues and my doctor said you're healthy,” Hachey said. “So then it was kind of like a wake up for me that ‘wow, you need to do something with your emotions.’
“It became a journey of healing for me at that point where I had to learn to grieve my dad, but during the process of grieving my dad, I had to deal with two other major deaths in my life.”
After Hachey’s father passed away, she lost a close friend to cancer, and then her grandfather also passed away. Through the deaths of three prominent people in her life, she said she eventually learned the process of grief and how to heal.
“I feel like what helped me was to speak to people to understand the process and to feel other people's emotions through the process. And I realized that this was a gift I could share with others,” Hachey said.
Through the book, Hachey hopes to let others know that they’re not alone, and that they’re stronger than they think.
“I want them (readers) to believe in themselves. I want them to believe that they are capable of surviving and thriving through anything that life has delivered to them,” Hachey said.
Hachey is having a book launch June 18 from noon to 2 p.m. at Stitch and Stone on the Kingsway. The book will be available there, as well as at True North Made in the New Sudbury Centre mall and on Amazon.
Eden Suh is a new media reporter at Sudbury.com.
