Month: November 2025

A flower buds on the ground and next to it is the title Grief without closure on Journeyofsmiley.com

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

3 Comments / Chronic Pain, Grief and Loss, Living Losses, Mental Health, Smiling though the pain - healing, self-care / By

“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

4 Comments / Grief and Loss, Living Losses / By

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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