Running track, four pairs of legs running in lanes, and the title is This isn't the Grief Olympics on Journeyofsmiley blog

The Grief Olympics: How Comparing Pain Keeps Us From Healing

I want to speak directly to you: How often have you found yourself quietly comparing your pain to someone else’s? How often have you thought, “It’s not that bad. Others have it worse”? If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. This is exactly what people mean by the Grief Olympics – the invisible competition where […]

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Disenfranchised Grief: What if Your Pain Has a Name?

In a previous post, I wrote about ambiguous loss – a type of loss that lacks closure. The kind that leaves you asking, Is this over? Or am I still waiting? It happens when someone is physically here but psychologically gone. Or physically gone but still deeply present in your mind. But there’s another layer

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What Are the 5 Stages of Grief: What if They’re Not Linear?

Grief is often described in stages – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross first introduced the Stages of Grief while working with terminally ill patients, but if you’ve ever grieved anything deeply, you already know this truth: Grief rarely follows a set order. Have you noticed how it never fits neatly into the boxes

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Overwhelmed? What if It’s Cumulative Grief From Multiple Losses

If you’ve recently been feeling emotionally overwhelmed and can’t quite explain why, I want to offer a gentle possibility: could you be experiencing cumulative grief from multiple losses? When loss happens time and again – without enough time, space, or support to fully process each one – grief doesn’t disappear. It accumulates. And over time, that

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Small Daily Intentions for the New Year That Make a Big Difference

As we step into a new year, it’s easy to feel pressure to make big plans, set bold goals, and completely reinvent ourselves. Yet over time, I’ve learned that meaningful change rarely comes from dramatic resolutions. Instead, it grows from small, daily intentions. These quieter intentions for the new year – simple, intentional choices we

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Christmas tree brunch decorated with a heart hanging on it, and the title Gentle Guide for Grievers on Journeyofsmiley blog

When Christmas Feels Hard: A Gentle Guide for Grieving Hearts

Christmas can stir up a thousand emotions — gratitude, joy, nostalgia — but also deep sorrow for what has changed. If this Christmas feels quieter, heavier, or lonelier, or if you find Christmas hard when grieving, please know this: you’re not alone. I understand, I’ve been there, too. I remember my first Christmas without my

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What if You’re Grieving What’s Still Here? Understanding Ambiguous Loss

“No one warned me that surviving my accident would mean grieving a life that never actually ended, rather an ambiguous loss, lingering quietly beneath the surface.” My traumaversary Today marks my fifth traumaversary – five years since the accident that changed my life in a split second. Five years ago, I was hit by a

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Two pairs of hands holding across a table and the title is The tender space between Holding on and Letting go on Journeyofsmiley.com

What if Mourning Begins in Advance? Anticipatory Grief in Invisible Losses

Have you ever thought that perhaps grief doesn’t wait for the final goodbye? What if it starts quietly, long before the ending – in those moments when we sense that change, loss, or death is coming? Let me introduce you to a term you might know, even if you didn’t know its name: anticipatory grief. Most

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On the right side is a decorative picture with the sign Brian Injury Wise and on the left side is an inspirational quote about trauma, healing, and listening to our bodies with the title PTSD: My Story Project on Journeyofsmiley blog

From Survival to Healing: Living With PTSD After a Traumatic Brain Injury

From Survival to Healing: Living with PTSD After a Traumatic Brain Injury by BrainInjuryWise | PTSD: My Story Project #017 Trigger warning Living with PTSD after a traumatic brain injury wasn’t something I ever expected. Like a lot of people, I believed PTSD was something veterans dealt with coming back from seeing unseeable things in

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