#1 Amazon Kindle bestseller in Business & Money > Business Consulting > Health & Stress
#1 Amazon paperback bestseller in Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > New England U.S. Biographies
This book tells the story of my grief journey back to thriving after my husband died of pancreatic cancer in 2016. A memoir where you will feel seen, heard and known and a Blueprint for moving forward after any loss, my book details the exact steps I took to find solutions for every breakdown I experienced myself. Now I serve my grief coaching clients with them.
The issues I encountered included:
- Loss of control in the face of overwhelming feelings
- Reduced trust in myself, forgetting my purpose
- Communication breakdowns with people, which cause misunderstandings and being abandoned
- Impaired ability to be productive and get things done at work and at home
- Timeline for grieving, which lasted years and made it so hard to see a bright future
If you are grieving yourself or care for someone who is and don't know how to support them, I wrote this for you. Nobody talks about what grief is like from the inside. I decided to be that person, to shift the conversation from private to public.
Grief does not discriminate and touches everybody. It's not just death of a loved one, I understand this deeply myself.
Moving forward through grief is easier in community and with the 5 Pillar Life After Grief Blueprint I created for myself and my grieving clients, you can:
1) RECONNECT with yourself
2) RE-ENGAGE in the world
3) REINVENT your identity
4) REBUILD your networks of support
5) RESET your path forward
In my grief, I was ‘too much’ and my grieving went on for ‘too long’, I lost people I counted on to support me. I struggled with memory, energy and not feeling like myself. Unable to find the resources I needed, I built them.
Excerpts from other Amazon readers' reviews...
"Whether your grief is relatively new or decades old, The Bad Widow Guide to Life After Loss is the ultimate guide to navigating grief with grit and grace." CsmilleDBN
"I am not a widow but this book helped me see hope out of grief and loss" BRD
"Reading Alison Pena's no-holds-barred description of the process of grieving/grief was a breath of fresh air. Although I have not lost my spouse, I identified with so much of her experience - especially around the expectations of others about how I should handle devastating events." Ted Krever
"Her story is real. She was able to put in words how I feel. Now I know I am normal." Amazon Customer
"Heartwarming book of a wife’s great love for an artist and life partner." kipsbayplace
" It's the perfect mix of profound caring and love and grieving, plus a clear vision about how to survive and live in the real world. Ms. Pena confronts the most terrible loss with her whole being... As a rabbi, I can say that I've never seen anyone straddle the poles of engaging in the present, looking to the future, and cherishing the past." Joel B. Gordon
"We certainly feel her heartbreak, but she has sifted through her emotions to find kernels of truth and wisdom." Kevin S. Hall
"This is one of those books I didn't want to put down. The author shares the different stages, struggles, and decisions she faced during her husband's illness and passing, and her subsequent journey forward." Karen
"Deeply vulnerable in sharing the story of the tragic loss of her husband, Alison Pena gives the reader a realistic look at what it means to lose everything and then re-build an amazing life." Emi Kirschner
"Brilliant. Sensitive. Insightful. A guide and an oracle for life after loss." Laura Shabott
Alison Pena, aka Bad Widow, is a lifelong New Yorker, a passionate advocate for living life boldly. She offers grief resilience coaching, based on her own experience, and is selling her artist husband's legacy of art. Alison loves participating in open mics, both poetry and music, and summers in Maine.
Anne White, lifelong activist, photographer, and late-blooming poet. Anne wrote her first poem at the age of 80 and read it at an Open Mic in Sleepy Hollow. She has featured at the Hudson Valley Writers Center Open Mic and coordinated the Poetry in the Pavement project to imprint poems in a new sidewalk alongside the Hudson River, including seven poems by local poets. She is also one of the organizers of the "Wishing Wall" project which offered a way for Sleepy Hollow residents to express their hopes for the future at a dark time in the midst of the pandemic. Anne is proud to have one of her poems on the wall. With more than 250 community members participating in the design and painting of the 520-foot-long mural, the project received the 2020 Community Award from Arts Westchester.
Spirited and energetic, Bernadette Pleasant is a fiery and sensual speaker, somatic healer, Founder of The Emotional Institute and Creator of Femme!, a mind-body wellness program, and 400 Years, a somatic-based anti-racism program. She is known for channeling her personal journeys and radical empathy into transformative, immersive experiences that support and celebrate people of all genders, colors, ages and sizes. She has transformed the lives of thousands of people around the world, inspiring them to become more self-expressed and empowered as their own badass selves. With certifications in Emotions-Centered Coaching, Somatic Healing, Integrated Energy Therapy and studies in African, Tribal, and Free Dance, Bernadette promotes emotional freedom through movement and empowerment. She also facilitates deep and refreshingly real dialogues on emotional healing, grief, and unlearning racism. A woman of color, Bernadette comes from a long line of natural healers who have used touch and movement to help others find peace and wellness. Her classrooms, both online and in person, welcome participants without judgment, supporting all to experience comfort and pleasure in their own skin.
