Grief & Loss
Articles on Grief & Loss
Honest writing about grief, loss, and what the experience actually looks like across different stages. Written by people who have been through it.
The 6 Stages of Grief: What to Actually Expect
The stages of grief model tells you what grief looks like. This is what it actually feels like: the waves, the fog, the guilt, and why month 3 is often harder than month 1.
Grief and Identity: Who Are You Without What You Lost?
When someone central to your life dies, part of your identity goes with them. What grief does to your sense of self, and how people find their way back.
When Grief Comes in Waves: Why the Random Moments Hit So Hard
You can go weeks feeling almost okay. Then a song in a grocery store breaks you open. Why grief works in waves and what to do when one hits unexpectedly.
The First Holiday Without Them
Everyone around you is celebrating. And you are carrying something no one can see. The first holiday after a death is its own kind of grief.
Anticipatory Grief: Mourning Someone Who Is Still Here
Grief does not only come after a death. It can arrive long before, while someone is still alive, as a kind of preparation the heart does without asking permission.
The First Death Anniversary
Everyone talks about the first year of grief. Almost no one talks about the day it ends. The first anniversary of a death is its own specific kind of hard.
Mother's Day When Your Mom Is Dead
Every flower shop and brunch reservation is a reminder. Mother's Day after a loss is one of the hardest days of the year, and you are allowed to say so.
Disenfranchised Grief: When the World Does Not Recognize Your Loss
Some losses do not receive the social permission to grieve that others do. The death of an estranged parent. A miscarriage. A pet. An addiction. The end of something that was never officially a relationship. This is for those losses.