Dearest Neighbor, “How do I get The Old Me back?” is a question I hear in many scenarios but most often when one of our fellow journeyers has faced a significant life loss. “My loss has changed me” and “I’ll never be the same again” are two common comments people make following a tragic or chaotic life event. What happens … Read More
Holiday Healing Tips: Trim Your Event List and Letting Go
Some of our most favorite holiday traditions include family, friend, community, and corporate gatherings and parties. Many of us derive great pleasure from holiday activities, but they do place additional demands on our time and energy. If you are dealing with conflict or grief following a life loss event, the additional holiday stress can make you feel downright overwhelmed and … Read More
Holiday Healing Tips: Family Gatherings & Being Flexible
Holidays are meant to be a time for remembering, reflecting, celebrating, giving thanks, and of coming together, Journeyer. Like many of you, I enjoy everything about hosting family and friends in my home. The smell of a meal wafting from the oven, the themed tableware, the drone of catching up chatter and the magic of laughter fill my home and … Read More
Holiday Healing Tips: The Decorations & Asking for Help
Some of our most favorite holiday pastimes include festive decorations and lights to adorn our homes and businesses. I typically spend a day with Christmas tunes streaming from the television as I carefully and joyously hang garland and strategically place NOEL blocks, Santa tapestries, themed bath linens, and other precious holiday pieces. Though I know a few people who only … Read More
Ask Annah: How Can I be Grateful in the Midst of So Much Pain?
Dearest Neighbor, November 1st always arrives with a flourish of “gratitude” memes and requests for you to participate in all sorts of activities and posts throughout the month. This daily practice can be downright grueling, disheartening, and un-empowering when you are in the doldrums or in a state of despair. I recall feeling inadequate during my grief periods following my … Read More
Ask Annah: What Can I Do With All This Survivor’s Guilt?
Dearest Neighbor, First, let me to tell you how sorry I am for your losses, for not only are you facing the death of someone you care about, you may also be experiencing other losses like the loss of emotional security, loss of dreams and hopes, and loss of companionship, to name a few. Survivor’s guilt stems from so many … Read More
Ask Annah (and Tiny Buddha): Why Do I Feel so Alone?
Dear Journeyer, Nearly every day I read this question or hear someone pleading for an answer to the overwhelming fear or loss they feel inside. A sense of loneliness or of feeling alone can impact any combination of your academic, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual facets and it is one of the factors that could be standing between you and … Read More
Ask Annah: How Do You Know if You’ve Officially Let Go?
Dear Journeyer, “How do you know if you’ve officially let go?” asks one of our neighbors. What a beautiful question. There really is no one right or wrong answer. The simplest answer is that you just know. You feel a sense of peace or resolution from your belly to your bones. Sometimes the heavens open, the angels sing, the doves … Read More
Ask Annah: Why Do I Feel Worse 2-3 Years after My Significant Life Loss Event
Dear Journeyer, I am often asked some variation of this question: “It’s been three years since my child/parent/sibling/spouse/best friend died and I feel worse now than I did when it happened. What is wrong with me?” Though this query often references the death of a person, I have also heard it with regard to other forms of loss, including but … Read More
The Reason Grief Feels Eternal
Even though it’s been twenty-seven years since my firstborn’s arrival into this world, I remember how eternal those weeks following his birth were. Like many moms do, I swayed in the rocker at the foot of the crib we’d so lovingly adorned the nursery with. I twisted the dial on the bed chamber’s musical mobile and awaited its soothing melodies. I … Read More