When you’re caught in a worry trap about an uncertain future, take the advice of CS Lewis. Focus on sensible and human things.
...The hardest thing I’ve done as an adult was help my husband settle his father’s estate. We called the 18-month ordeal “probate paradise.” Trust me, it bore no resemblance to a Jimmy Buffett song. We were lucky. My father-in-law had a will. Most people are not so lucky. According to a 2020 Gallup poll, only 45% of …
Early in her career, my mother faced a frightening setback.She and my father were a few years out of college and living in Ohio. Dad quit his job to attend graduate school. Mom landed a teaching position in a town that was an easy commute to main campus.Her sorority sister, who worked in the district, …
When I learned my mother had entered a “deep sleep,” I took a last-minute flight to be with her. It was my pre-doula days, so I didn’t know exactly what was happening to her. Mom had gone down, then rallied, often that year. In fact, no one in the family knew what to think, and the …
How I feel about my work? I see unfathomable grace daily. I see my clients lean into the intensity of grief and become wiser versions of themselves. That’s why I do what I do. I don’t bring faith to them. They bring faith to me.
...Rip currents are narrow bands of water in surf zones that flow away from the shore. One minute, you’re swimming in a manageable tide. The next, you’re being pulled out to sea at 5 mph. Grief can feel like an emotional rip current. And the strategies for riding out a rip current will also work for navigating grief.
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