My father would have celebrated his 66th birthday this past January. As we have every year since the day he left this world, my sister and I post a message on his FaceBook page as a tribute to the man we called "Dad" for so many years. Many people "liked" this message, and commented about how they miss his audacious self. Among those comments lied one in particular that initially angered me. Yet, as I thought about it throughout the day I ...
The Relationship Between Strength and Pain
How could you abandon me? Life after Suicide.
I do not need to tell you how difficult life after suicide is. We are pulled in many directions as we try and make sense of what just happened. Our brain is put in overdrive as we try and conceptualize how this could have happened to us. We often talk about the anger and sorrow we feel in the aftermath of traumatic loss. Guilt and shame play a leading role in our grief story often impacting our ability to not only forgive our loved one, but ...
Finding Inner Strength after Loss
Glinda, says it best. Finding inner strength after loss often feels like an impossible task. We are told time and time again, "It will get better" yet it often feels like it won't. For this week's Motivational Monday, we remind you that you DO have strength, you DO have power, and YOU WILL persevere. You just have to peel away the layers, and find it. ...
Loss after Losing my Dad to Suicide
It is amazing to me how much grief changes you. After losing my dad to suicide, I never really thought about how future deaths would impact me. My father's suicide instilled this unequivocal fear that others would die tragically. How could I not have that fear? It happened once before, maybe it will happen again. Much time and energy has been directed to this fear yet little has been directed to how I would cope if tragedy struck again. So ...