Category: Good Grief Days
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Havin’ a Good Grief Day
Everybody hurts sometimes. People who experience post-traumatic growth still feel pain and have their fair share of negative emotions. We are not Pollyanna’s who constantly carry an irrational optimism about life despite its challenges. We feel the struggles very deeply as well. But rather than being crippled by the pain and inhibited from living a… Read more
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The Beauty of Ugly Crying
The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea. When I was in the deepest trenches of grief, I thought often of this beautiful quote from the Danish author Isak Dinesen. While I did use all three of these salt water sources in my grieving process, I most certainly relied on tears… Read more
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Walking on a Tightrope (or Slackline)
I still have rotten days now and then. A couple weeks ago, I had an intense wave of yearning for Stephen as I was winding down for bed one evening, so I went down a deep rabbit hole, looking back at photos and videos of our life together. And I was hoping it would help… Read more
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Now I Lay Me Down to (Not) Sleep
Sleep deprivation = torture. In the early days of grief, I commonly told people that I felt like I was being tortured. And I know that sounds very melodramatic. But truly, given the very minimal sleep I was getting, I don’t think I was exaggerating too much. Everyone’s experience of grief is unique and specific… Read more
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Dog Days of Summer
This summer, a dog taught me a lot about Buddhism. Nine weeks ago, I adopted a dog. I wish I could say that everything went spectacularly well and she’s now fully settled into her forever home with me, but unfortunately, it didn’t end that way. I ended up making the very difficult decision to rehome… Read more
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Today Was a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
In the couple of months leading up to today, things were honestly going really great. I went on an amazing snorkeling trip to Indonesia, sold my house in Florida quickly for a great profit, and moved into a beautiful new apartment with my sister and our plethora of pets. I was finding walking trails to… Read more