One of the most common struggles through loss is feeling alone. We hope that these raw glimpses into real stories bring community to your own grief journey.
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Grief is holding that old photograph over and over again. Over time, we notice more things about it. It develops wear and tear — but only because we treasure it so much. That’s the lens that grief gives us. We zoom in, zoom out and analyze every part of our past with our loved one…hoping that some of the memories will carry us through the present heartache.
Read MoreSo, what the heck do we do on a day that highlights the loss in our lives? To start, I want you to know that Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis in the early 1900s after she lost her mother. She wanted to honor the sacrifices her mother had made for her and Mother’s Day was born. It’s interesting that Mother’s Day originated from a grieving daughter, and yet, those that have experienced the loss feel like they can’t participate on the holiday.
Read MoreMy mother unexpectedly passed away two months before my 19th birthday, two days after Christmas. Ugh. Have you ever felt numbness? It seems paradoxical to feel numbness, but I swear I felt every inch of it crawling through my veins for weeks. And that was just the beginning.
I knew I needed to balance the heartache of the past few years and pair it with the anticipation and happiness of my future with Tyler. It was then that it hit me: a wedding day is a micro-version of life. We celebrate, we love, we mourn, we cry, we laugh and we reflect.
Read MoreI remember a friend of mine expressed that she couldn’t bare to discuss her parent’s end-of-life plans with them. It was “too hard” and “she didn’t want to go there”. Read about how 15 minutes of this conversation is the most loving thing you can do for your loved ones.
Read MoreIt was just another day at work, then it wasn’t. There was a text, out of nowhere, from a cousin expressing how sorry she was. There was a call from my fiance telling me that a friend was on her way to my office. A nauseating feeling enveloped me, and a fleeing sensation drove me out of the office in attempt to simply breathe. But you can’t escape a reality like that.
Read MoreGrief has become my secret, but that’s what has been the most isolating, yet fascinating factor of what I call my “grieving guilt”. You know, that feeling that people are getting tired of hearing about what you are going through. The guilt you feel for not wanting to burden someone with your grief related “woes”, but I’m learning that being vulnerable and open is an essential part of healing.
Read MoreGrief is exhausting and it requires you to DIY. No one can do it for you and there are no quick YouTube videos to teach you everything you need to know either. Above all, you don’t have that person there who used to always have the right answer.
Read MoreWhen I was 13, my dad and I were on a ski chairlift when he passed away suddenly. I held his limp body for 7.5 minutes as the chairlift climbed to the top of the mountain. He was pronounced dead an hour later, in a small clinic by the mountain’s baselodge. What does this experience mean for me now, as a 23 year-old? What will it mean for me tomorrow? This is what grief is all about.
Read MoreIt was extra tough juggling a new baby amidst a household of mourners, but looking back now, I can see that those initial months of grieving turned out to be some of the most solid bonding months with my youngest.
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