The losses we experience aren’t always the losses others recognize. 1. You can grieve someone who is still alive. Divorce, estrangement, addiction, dementia, or simply watching someone become a person you no longer recognize. Someone doesn’t have to die for you to experience the loss of who they were or what your relationship once was. 2. Not every meaningful relationship was public. Maybe it was an affair, a situationship, a private relationship, or one that others didn’t approve of. The fact that people didn’t know about it, or didn’t understand it, doesn’t mean there wasn’t a real connection or a real loss. 3. You can grieve a life you never got to live. The children you hoped to have, the marriage you imagined, the opportunity that never came, or the future you spent years planning. We don’t just grieve what we had. We also grieve what we thought would be. 4. Sometimes the biggest loss is who you were. A career ends. Your health changes. Financial independence disappears. A relationship ends, and suddenly the roles, routines, and responsibilities that helped define you are gone. You’re not just adjusting to what happened. You’re trying to figure out who you are now. 5. Even death doesn’t guarantee your grief will be acknowledged. Losing an ex, an estranged family member, a friend, or a pet can be devastating. Yet people may question why you’re grieving or how much that relationship should have meant to you. Other people’s opinions don’t determine the significance of your loss. 6. Disenfranchised grief is not a mental health diagnosis. It’s a term used to describe grief that isn’t recognized, acknowledged, or supported by others. The issue isn’t necessarily how you’re grieving. It’s that the people around you may not recognize that you’re grieving at all. 7. Being told to “get over it” doesn’t make grief disappear. Comments like “It’s been long enough,” “You chose to leave,” or “At least they’re still alive” can make an already difficult experience more isolating. Eventually, some people stop talking about their loss altogether. That doesn’t mean they’ve stopped feeling it. 8. You can feel guilty about grieving. Especially when you were the one who ended the relationship, made the decision to leave, or had a complicated relationship with the person you lost. You might even question whether you have the right to be upset. Making a necessary decision doesn’t mean you won’t grieve what came with it. 9. You can feel relieved and devastated at the same time. You can know that leaving was the right decision and still miss the person. You can feel relieved that a difficult chapter is over and still mourn the future you wanted. Those feelings aren’t contradictions. They can exist together. 10. Grief doesn’t operate on a schedule. There is no set amount of time you’re supposed to grieve, and there isn’t a neat sequence of stages everyone moves through. Some days you may feel like yourself again. Other days, something small brings the loss right back to the surface. Grief isn’t necessarily linear. 11. Sometimes you don’t even get the opportunity to say goodbye. You may not be invited to the funeral, have the chance to acknowledge the relationship publicly, or be able to explain what you’ve lost. Without that recognition, you’re often left to find your own way of honoring what mattered. 12. You don’t need permission to acknowledge your loss. Having someone listen without minimizing, comparing, or trying to fix what you’re feeling can make a meaningful difference. Support groups, personal rituals, honest conversations, and professional support when needed can help you begin making sense of what has changed.

For this week, the time has been moved up to 10am. It will return two Thursdays at 11 AM going forward.

I’m genuinely grateful you’re here. The more of us who participate, the more opportunities we have to connect, relate, support each other, and have that moment of, “Oh heck, you too?” Whether your loss is brand new or something you’ve been carrying for years, you’re in the right place. Not everyone understands what grief looks like or where we’re at with it—and sometimes we just need people who get it. Share when you want to. Join a group. Ask a question. Or just hang out until you’re ready. There’s no timeline and no right way to do this. Welcome to Life After Loss. I’m glad you found us.

If there is an interest in attending , I am open to rescheduling to any day this week that works for others. My apologies for the short notice. The calendar got away from me.