THE HEALING PATH
Writing for the parts of grief nobody warns you about.
Most of what I write here started as something a client said to me, or something I lay awake with myself. Why do I wake up at 2 a.m.? Why did my friends stop calling? Is it normal to feel relief? Why does it hurt in my chest?
These posts aren't advice from a distance. They're the things I'd say if you were sitting across from me with a cup of tea. Read whatever is closest to what you're carrying tonight. You don't have to read them in order, and you don't have to read
New posts most weeks. No paywall, no sign-up needed to read.
If you can’t sleep * Why grief wakes you at 2 or 3 in the morning, and what helps.
If it hurts in your body * Grief lives in the chest, the shoulders, the stomach. How to let it move.
If you feel something you “shouldn’t”. * Relief, anger, numbness. All of it belongs.
If your friends have gone quiet * Why people disappear after a loss, what it isn’t, and what to do.
If they’re still here and you’re already grieving * Anticipatory grief, and why it’s real.
How long will my grief last? Does this feeling ever get better?
The Four Faces of Complicated Grief: Which One Sounds Like You?
One of the loneliest parts of complicated grief is feeling like no one else grieves the way you do. You go to a support group, and everyone else seems to be crying — but you feel nothing. Or everyone else seems to be functioning — and you can barely get out of bed. Or you can't stop thinking about your person, and you're not sure that's okay.
Here's something I want you to know: complicated grief tends to show up in a few recognizable patterns. Not everyone fits neatly into one — most people notice pieces of themselves in a few. But naming them can be a small relief. You are not the only one.
Traumatic Loss: When the How of a Death Changes the Grief
Some losses are quiet — a long illness, a peaceful goodbye, hands held to the end. And even those break your heart. But other losses arrive in a way that changes everything about how the grief lands: a phone call at 2 a.m., a car accident, a suicide, an overdose, a death you witnessed or could almost have prevented.
That's what we mean by traumatic loss. Not because your love wasn't as deep, but because the circumstances themselves overwhelm the way we're built to cope.
Something to hold onto tonight.
The 2 A.M. Ritual is a free, seven-step guide for the nights you wake up missing someone. Quiet music, a breathing guide, and no sign-up required.
If you’d rather talk than read:
I offer a free 20-minute conversation. No pitch, no pressure. You tell me what happened, I listen, and we figure out together whether working with me makes sense.
