About Marsha Stopa

I’m Marsha Stopa, and I’m a health and life coach, online entrepreneur, book author and generally curious human being. Twenty years as a newspaper journalist taught me curiosity is a healthy trait, and I still can’t stop until I find answers to my unanswered questions.

Which is how I figured out how to beat Seasonal Affective Disorder and the winter blues. Despite the lack of easy-to-find and useful information nearly 10 years ago during one very difficult autumn,  I self-diagnosed myself with SAD and desperately began treatment using light therapy.

Foggy, aching agony

I couldn’t figure out why I felt so exhausted and depressed, as if someone had gone through my body and brain and shut off all the power switches without my permission. Mornings were foggy, aching agony. My mind, if nothing else, was active in frustration: “What was this?”

Then I had a thought that I now know was my salvation. “Maybe this is that, what’s it called? SAD?” I went to the Internet, of course. I found a list of symptoms, all of which I had in abundance, and a book to read. I didn’t stop researching until I had a plan. Click to read the rest of My SAD Story.

An Expert on Miserable Winters

When it comes to miserable winters, I am an expert. I live in summer beautiful but winter gray Michigan, where we can go for weeks without seeing the sun during the seven months from October to April. If the cold doesn’t get you some winters, the wet, gray blanket of a sky will. I live in the heart of suburban Detroit, so it’s a long drive to go skiing or otherwise enjoy the beauty of a sparkling winter landscape.

While I haven’t come to adore winter, I certainly don’t dread and fear it anymore. I know how to adjust to the lack of sunlight with light therapy and I’ve adjusted my attitude. Which makes me much nicer to be around all winter, especially since I don’t hibernate and growl at anyone who comes close anymore.

Smiling Through the Gray Days

I granted myself the title of The Winter Blues Coach because I am fiercely devoted to helping people sail through the winter months feeling vibrant and full of energy. No one is as passionate about teaching and supporting people as they learn to manage the winter blues holistically using the best tools that technology, research and the Internet has to offer.

Allow me to mention a few other things that qualify me to teach you how to manage the winter blues and support and coach you through this dark and difficult season. I am:

• A health and life coach who has completed a one-year training program.
• A Polarity Therapist who has taken classes for nearly four years to become a Registered Polarity Practioner. Polarity Therapy is a whole-health model that blends energy healing, diet, exercise and attitude.
• An author who has co-written a book on how to use the stages of grief to recover from personal economic loss.  Emotional Stimulus Package: Your Guide to Re-Creating the American Dream, was published in December 2009.  You can find it at The Lemonade Network, Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

If you’ve read this far we obviously have something in common – curiosity! Feel comfortable contacting me for more information, no obligation.