Category: Coping with Loss

I Remember…

Some of the prompts I’ve had in “Writing Your Grief” have been challenging. This one was to pick a simple object and let your mind run with it. The first problem was picking an article. There were suggestions, but none of them resonated with me. For several days, I would look at the prompt, then…… Continue reading I Remember…

How My Heart Is

“The prompt from””Writing Your Grief” is to write about the condition of my heart. I sat with it for a few days, trying to get a sense of where I am right now. The first image that came to me was the desert. “The prompt from “Writing Your Grief” is to write about the condition…… Continue reading How My Heart Is

Smoldering Ache of Loss

Smoldering means smoke with no flames.  Flames are the roar of death, either sudden or expected.  Both hurt.  The smoke is the pain left behind, filling my lungs until I can barely breathe.  Mike’s sudden death smoldered in my mind and heart for years as I learned to live without him.  After the first two…… Continue reading Smoldering Ache of Loss

Found Poetry

Found poetry is picking an article or book and highlighting the words that speak to you and your story. I found inspiration from a New York Times article about Afghan women college students brought to this country to continue their college studies for the next two years. They have lost so much and dropped into…… Continue reading Found Poetry

Blue

In the “Writing Your Grief” group that I’m doing never know if I will write about Mike, my mom, or my dad.  It always seems that the person I’m supposed to be writing about comes to me when I start to write. This prompt is about my dad. This was the last photo that I…… Continue reading Blue

Grief Personified

https://videopress.com/v/a91MTOp5?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&autoPlay=true&loop=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true Grief Spiralcopyright Jennifer Mullins I signed up for “Writing Your Grief” by Megan Devine a week after my dad’s funeral.  It’s a 30-day program with daily prompts to write about your grief.  The pain of my dad’s death was compounded by the death of my mom six months earlier and my husband ten years…… Continue reading Grief Personified

Friends Help You Up When You Hit the Wall

Sign of the Times by Hugo Medina It’s invisible, so you don’t know when you will crash into it, but the wall of grief is always there. Friends who have your back help you get through these challenging times. This past week, I was doing something I have done for the past six years, which…… Continue reading Friends Help You Up When You Hit the Wall

The Relief of Shared Grief

Copyright Jennifer Mullins Finding people walking through grief, who are willing to be honest about their pain, can be a source of comfort. I had this experience yesterday. Every day since my mom died, I woke up feeling sad. I had a meeting to go to and cried on my drive there. Once I arrived,…… Continue reading The Relief of Shared Grief

Grief’s Physical Effects

Seven negative Covid tests in the last few weeks prove that the symptoms I’m experiencing are from grief and not the virus. Tears are easy to recognize as an outward sign of mourning, and they have flowed often from the time mom went on hospice and have continued since her death two weeks ago. However,…… Continue reading Grief’s Physical Effects

The Grief Roller Coaster

Copyright Jennifer Mullins One of the hardest things about grief is its unpredictable nature.  Today I have felt every emotion: deep sadness, joy, numbness, and anger.  Although everyone likes to refer to Elizbeth Kubler Ross’s stages of grieving, they were meant for people dying, not for those left behind.  Grief is not linear, where you…… Continue reading The Grief Roller Coaster