6 Months of Grief Project: Day 56

Goodbye Afternoons, Hello Mornings

This is Day 56 of my #6MonthsOfGrief Project. To learn more about this practice, feel free to visit Day One, where I explain this project in more detail.

My new job begins on Monday, which means my weightlifting schedule is going to change. I've been lifting in the afternoons for several years and have become close with several of my fellow lifters. One of those sweet friends brought me flowers to say "goodbye" and I am so touched and so moved by this simple act of kindness. I find that lifting heavy weights can really bond people together. We are facing immense challenges every day and we are always cheering each other on and supporting each other. I find the same is true in my grief - everyone at my gym has given me so much space to mourn and cry, while also pushing me to get back up and face those huge weights again. We all are faced with immense challenges and deep grief and it is powerful to have such a strong tribe of support. I'm going to be an early morning lifter now, and fortunately there are already several good friends waiting to welcome me in to the AM Hoisting Flock. 

One day at a time. One lift at a time.

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I am very aware that this project can bring up a lot around yours or other's grief and loss, I will always follow every post with some online grief support resources that have helped me. Please feel free to let me know of online support that you have found healing in your grief, as well:

Art with Grief:

• Photographer [Sarah Treanor] Takes Moving Self-Portraits to Cope with Her Fiance's Death by Jillian Wong
• When the Fall Comes, a film about Grief by Adriana Marchione
• Self-Portraits: Expressing Emotion Through Art on What's Your Grief?
• The Hard Romance of Grief by Mark Liebenow
• The poetry of John O’Donohue

Resources for Widows:

• Camp Widow

• Soaring Spirits International

Living with Grief Resources:

• Modern Loss's excellent resource list
• Grief Bibliography on Grief Healing

• Teresa “TL” Bruce's What to Say When Someone Dies
• They Brought Cookies: For A New Widow, Empathy Eases Death's Pain by Ann Finkbeiner on NPR
• A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

• Megan Devine’s Refuge in Grief

• The Geography of Sorrow: Francis Weller on Navigating Our Loses, interviewed by Tim McKee in Sun Magazine

• How to Be a Friend in Deed by Bruce Feiler in the New York Times

• 12 Things to Know About the First Year of Grieving Someone You Can’t Live Without by Laurie Costanza in Elephant Magazine

And remember, I am sharing this project on a variety of platforms, including my Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook feeds, as well as my Pinterest page on Grief. I use the hashtag #6MonthsOfGrief, so it can easily be found on any platform. Please share this project with anyone you think might need it.

Thank you, and see you tomorrow.