HINTERLAND TIMES - Solace and light

Accomplished journalist and author, Leigh Robshaw, has experienced tragedy and chosen to allow the pain to pass through her pen to the page, hoping to help herself and others heal from great loss.

By Travis Earsman

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Humility and talent reside in equal measures behind the quiet eyes of Leigh Robshaw. I am lucky enough to have been friends with her for several years now, and sitting down to have lunch with her was a long-overdue catchup. 

As an accomplished journalist and author, she has certainly lived her life steeped in the written word. Being a journalist for most of her adult life set her up well to write her first book back in 2019, which was entitled You Had Me At Hola. 

You Had Me at Hola has sold around 3000 copies across print, ebook and audiobook, and won the High Country Indie Book Award in 2020. This success led to speaking events at Sunshine Coast bookstores and libraries, as well as being invited to speak at Maleny Outspoken as an emerging author, alongside Clare Bowditch. 

She was gearing up to write the sequel when, around five months after the book launch, tragedy struck when her husband Herrin died suddenly of a cardiac arrest. He was only 47. This obviously shook her to the core, and her focus in life shifted immediately to taking care of her two young sons. All thoughts of writing a sequel went out the window, as she looked within to find peace in the face of such a difficult time.

“After a profound loss, it's very easy to decide that you're never going to be happy again, and your life's broken, and you're broken, and it's all too hard, and become a victim of it. 

“That's not what I wanted to do, so I made very conscious choices as to how I wanted to live my life and how I wanted to role model an empowered life for my sons. It was a bad thing to happen to us, but we were still going to be okay and we were still going to have a great life.”

So it was that Leigh pitched a new book idea to Hay House - not the sequel that everyone doubtlessly expected (though she does intend to write that one day,) but rather one detailing her personal journey with the grief of losing a spouse. 

“My aim was to write a book that blends a bit of science with a bit of psychology and a bit of spirituality. I didn't want to write another memoir, but I wanted to have some of my story in there too. 

“I wanted to offer a book that was solace to people going through grief. It's very much acknowledging the reality of what it's like to go through something like that. It's part memoir, part survival manual for the soul.”

The new book is entitled Widowed Young, and Leigh has written it as a sort of guide for people navigating the uncertain seas of losing a spouse early in life. Her goal with writing it is to be something of a light on the path for people, through the sharing of her own journey and the things that she has learned along the way.

The book is about choosing to live a happy life, allowing the pain to be there but moving forwards towards the life you want to lead. Choosing peace, seeking happiness and freedom despite the turmoil of such an horrific event. She advocates mindfulness, meditation, gratitude, service and above all, not identifying as a victim. 

‘I think there’s a difference between being a victim of something terrible, or finding yourself in difficult life circumstances, and fully identifying with that victimhood to the point where it begins to shape your life and limit your potential. 

“I decided that, even though I was a widow, I wasn’t going to define myself by widowhood. I didn’t want to wear that badge.”

The book also offers insight into both the scientific and spiritual components of the matter, including presenting a body of research into mediumship that suggests that there may be some effect beyond merely offering comfort to people seeking contact with loved ones who have passed over. 

“I have a lot of respect for science, but I'm also deeply spiritual, and I don't think science can explain everything. Spirituality for me is comforting, as it is for a lot of people, especially when you go through times like that. 

“I think we can use whatever is at our disposal to help us get through the worst thing that's ever happened to us in our life.”

From here, Leigh intends to engage in more speaking events, which she had been doing after the launch of her first book. It is important to her to do all that she can to offer help and support to people who are going through what she has been through, partly because of the outpouring of support that she received herself.

“I do want to say thank you to the Maleny community, because when Herrin died, we were absolutely inundated with support. 

“I want to say thank you to everyone that showed up for us at that time, because it was absolutely devastating. I didn't really know how I'd get through the next day at all, and now here I am six years later, and doing really well. That's partly because I live in such an amazing, tight-knit community.”

Widowed Young is coming out on December 1, and will be available at all bookstores. The book launch will be held at Rosetta Books, Maleny, at 5pm on Dec 4.  

Visit leighrobshaw.com.au for updates on Leigh’s work and to contact her.