Moving forward

Ask any parent of an autistic child, and they will tell you: raising a child with autism is one of the most rewarding, eye-opening, and joy-filled experiences life can offer. There are as many reasons to celebrate autism as there are ways that it presents itself. But good things often come in complicated packages, and…

At the Heart of It Sometimes sharing about our grief with others can end up feeling like a competition—who has had the “worst” experience, or who will “win” by giving the “right” answers about how to grieve? This is common and can happen in a variety of ways, and it’s often unintentional. The way to…

Can one form of grief be less significant than another? Here, we’ll explore how non-person losses, while sometimes perceived as “less-than” other forms of grief, can still feel the same. At the Heart of It Homesickness shares many similarities with grief in how we experience it when a loved one dies. Moving forward from homesickness…

At the Heart of It • Grief can feel like a bottomless pit that's impossible to escape. • While there is no "getting over it," we can gradually climb out of that pit and find joy again. • We do that by making small, intentional choices that lead us to empowerment and, eventually, healing. If…

From therapeutic art workshops with cancer patients to podcast interviews with athletic coaches, I’ve seen how different the effects of grief are in different people. We can feel it emotionally, we can watch it manifest itself physically, and we can see it reflected in our behaviors.But at the very center of the grief experience is the heart.The heart is…

Whose grief is worse: the doctor who loses her patient, or the family who loses their beloved dog?  Which situation is harder: a long, debilitating illness, or a sudden accident?  What community suffers more: the neighborhood devastated by a hurricane, or the town shocked by a mass shooting?  I hear comparisons like these all the…

“You were so lucky to have her for so long.”  Martha was 75 years old when her mother, Rose, died. Rose had just turned 101. Martha’s friends comforted her by saying how lucky Rose was to live so long, and how lucky Martha was to have that time with her. But Martha did not feel…

In the early days of my working life, one of my colleagues returned from bereavement leave. Her husband had just passed away, and it was her first day back at work. I froze when I saw her walking down the hallway. I wanted her to know I was there for her, but I was so…

When we think of who is working on the front lines of grief and loss, we picture hospice nurses, firefighters, and counselors. We imagine doctors and first responders. But do you think of teachers? In the early days of my career, I never would have put grief work and teachers together. Now, teachers are some…

Loss doesn’t only take away a person you love. It also takes away a part of yourself. When you first experience a loss, you might feel lost and afloat. It’s hard to remember who you are when you are trying to make sense of who you are not anymore—a caretaker, a daughter, a father, a…