Newmarket woman writes book to help others deal with loss during hard times

A Newmarket woman has written a book about loss that she hopes will help anyone struggling with grief or a sense of loss, things that may affect a lot of people during the pandemic.

Jamie Sokoloff wrote her book, Persevering for Peace: A Guide to Finding the Light in the Darkest of Times after the unexpected death of her father from heart complications, which occurred just over a year ago during a "dream trip" to Bora Bora for his 59th birthday.

"My dad was super influential, he built a multi-million-dollar elevator company from the ground up, so I thought his wisdom needed to be share. I took all the life lessons he taught me and explain in the book how I applied them to my life after his passing."

Some of those lessons include perseverance in the face of adversity, which Sokoloff said was most important for her following his untimely death. So much so, she has it tattooed on her wrist.

Seeing the big picture and not sweating the small stuff was another lesson she talks about in the book.

Writing all this down, said Sokoloff, was therapeutic during those hard months after her father died and the COVID-19 pandemic tightened its grip on the world.

"I was really struggling for quite a while, so I started writing things down about my dad. And after a few weeks of doing that every day, I decided that I needed to share this with people," she said.

"It was quite the release for me. It was kind of like my therapy. "

When the manuscript was done, Sokoloff self published the book, with the help of an editing service. The book is now available on Amazon, as well as in local stores in Newmarket, including Daylyn at Nature's Emporium, Earth Market, the Maker's Mark, and potentially Indie Coffee, she said. 

"I was originally picked up by a book store in Uxbridge because she saw it and thought it would help people. Once she got them, and people started buying them ... I realized I should reach out to other shops."

Sokoloff said her book could be helpful to anyone who is grieving as it walks through her own healing process.

"One of the chapters is how to live again. It goes through the steps I took to reinvent myself such as finding something that makes you happy, something to keep you mentally and physically fit, and something to keep you busy," she said.

"After every chapter were is a guided journal activity with a question at the top of the page."

 She thinks this is something many people would be experiencing right now because of the pandemic, whether it be the loss of a loved one, a job or the need to reinvent yourself.