“Exactly 2 months later, my sister and two beautiful nieces were killed in a car accident. I heard phrases like ‘everything happens for a reason’ more times than I can count. I was told my sadness was a result of my lack of gratitude and my focusing on the negative. I was encouraged to move on, to forget, to focus on the positive and live in gratitude with love.”
‘Days before his 24th birthday, we received messages. ‘Jake has not shown up for work or class.’ His roommates hadn’t seen him the night before.’: Woman details navigating grief after losing brother to suicide, sister and nieces to car accident
‘I reread our old texts. Our first date still plays in my mind. It’s the best movie I’ve ever seen. Through photos, I envision the life I thought would be ours.’: Woman shares reminder to embrace pain post-breakup
“If she wants to sulk, I let her sulk. Because holding onto her pain doesn’t mean she’s not living. It means she is.”
‘I’m shocked we haven’t been kicked out of my friend’s chemo. But the doctor likes us, I’m certain of it.’: Woman in hysterics with friend at chemo treatment, they refuse to ‘let the monster consume us’
“From the moment we strode in, to the moment we left, we were in tears. I don’t mean little, drippy tears. I mean big, fat, mascara stained tears. Some whispered as they watched. The ‘Indian Prince’ Doctor nervously smiled. The entire chemo ward waited to see what would happen next. We weren’t crying in pain. Oh no. We were laughing so hard we were crying. I remember being here with my husband after he was diagnosed. I was nervous how I’d feel. But you know – go big or go home.”
‘I had to tell them. ‘Your dad died by suicide.’ Words I knew would change their lives forever. Words no child should hear. I had to be honest with them. I was terrified.’
“My husband of 16 years. My best friend. The father to my 9 and 12-year-old beautiful boys. He left that morning for work. He never came home. I never saw his beautiful smile again. He just never came home.”
‘Some days I feel fantastic. That’s the part of me most people know. Then there are the days where I retreat. Where I spend hours alone. Where my thoughts get dark.’
“I panic about my children when they’re just fine. I wake up unable to fall asleep because of my own thoughts. I replay conversations that were over weeks ago.”
‘She is 5, her curls draped around her cheeks. As she straightens her crown, she finds the reflection of her gray hair and sad eyes staring back at her. She is dressing for her fourth funeral this year.’
“Looking at her reflection she is forced to blink to see clearly. Her gray hair is set in curlers. She is thinking about all the friends and family she has outlived. She considers bending down to fix her knee-high stocking, but instead, sighs deeply.
This Is What ‘Self-Care’ REALLY Means, Because It’s Not All Salt Baths And Chocolate Cake
It is letting yourself be normal. Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes having a dirty kitchen and deciding your ultimate goal in life isn’t going to be having abs and keeping up with your fake friends.
