From Powerful Empathic Care for Grievers to Personal Manifestos: New Language of Grief Helps -3

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Sarah Peterson [: 00:00:02

Welcome to enduring grief, healing practices and true stories of living after loss, where we dive into real honest conversations about the journey through grief and the support that makes it possible. I'm Sarah Peterson, an LCSW. And in this space, I bring my experience as someone who has walked this path alongside my work with my nonprofit, Clear Morning. Clear Morning is dedicated to shifting the culture of grief through support, innovation, and awareness. In our first episode, I'll share my personal story and how I've come to this work, why it matters so deeply to me, and how it might resonate with you. Whether you're navigating your own loss or standing by someone who is, this space is for you. Join me as we uncover the stories, the struggles, and the hope that lead to healing. Let's walk through this journey together.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:00:51

Hey, everybody. Glad to have you here for a podcast with me. This is enduring grief, healing practices and true stories of living after loss. I wanted to sneak this one in. It's a workshop that I've created and done many times for folks, never in person, always online. But I wanted to put it in here because I'd love to reference it more, and I'd like for you, my listeners, to know what I'm talking about. But more importantly, I think that the information I'll share today are real ways that grievers and supporters can ask for or provide the most meaningful and tailored support for each other. And like to the concept of the 5 love languages, which is awesome, it's not like, oh, set in stone, this is the only way that I receive or offer love, but it's helpful to know that Sarah is an affirmations person.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:01:43

The way I hear things and feel loved is when people tell me I'm wonderful and doing a good job. That means the most to me. And so much like that is a powerful tool for us to develop and cultivate deep and meaningful connection, so are these languages of grief. However, I will say that the new languages of grief, it's important to know, like, you might be all of them many times during the day. And it's not so much as finding 1 and sticking with it, but knowing which one you're in in the moment so that you can articulate to your supporter, this is the way I'm finding comfort right now, and your supporter knows what that means and how to offer that comfort. And I'll explain more. I'm kinda going off here. So let's get started.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:02:28

And I'm actually gonna be referencing my own little PowerPoint. And it starts with a quote by one of my favorite authors. Her name is Pixie Light Horse, and you can find her books on our website, www.clearmorning.org. And it says, help me work with the potency of my memories so that when grief pulls at me, I respond with compassion. And what that always says to me is that when the ties of grief pull at me, let me just show up to them without fear and instead compassion, with an investigative mind, with an understanding that, yeah, it's gonna be hard and I am working on or know what tools I have to help me comfort myself in this moment. So the goal for the new languages of grief are to build connection, to understand the difference between sympathy and empathy, but primarily to build connection with your supporters. In other podcasts, you'll have heard me or my guest talk about how sometimes there are no words, and that's true. So what if we had a filter through which we were receiving or asking for the support we need so that it didn't require so much of the griever as far as really, you know, honing in and articulating what they need and that we could pick up on other cues to offer meaningful support and then build connection? So we know that there's a lot of things not working in the grief culture right now.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:03:46

One is the idea that grief is bad and negative, and that if you go to grief therapy, it will stop the grieving. I love when my clients come in and they're like, yeah. I was having a really hard day. So all my friends said, you need an appointment with your grief counselor, which, yeah, great. Come on in. Maybe you do. And culturally, I hear, please don't do this to me. Go find somebody else to do this with, or maybe this will get fixed if you're in front of a counselor.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:04:12

And, you know, honestly, that's just not the case. I hope we all know that. I think as grievers, we mostly know that, but I wanna, like, enhance that with permission to say it's an ongoing journey for the rest of your life. It's never gonna be fixed entirely. It can be lived with meaningfully, but fixed is ridiculous. We often dismiss another's experience. It's too uncomfortable. It's too painful.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:04:34

We don't know what to say. We're living in our own discomfort instead of the suffering of another, etcetera, etcetera. That those things sound like, well, they're in a better place, or everything happens for a reason. Although I believe most of the time, those comments are driven by deep compassion and love, they're just not great things to say because really they dismiss the experience. And for somebody to tell me that my story has happened for a reason invokes a deep sense of anger because, no, there was no reason for my child to die. None. It happened. Things have happened since in part because of that loss, but, no, there's no reason.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:05:11

It really always is gonna go back to one of my favorite quotes that if you've been listening to this podcast, you've heard before from Richard Rohr that says, pain not transformed is transmitted. You know, so it's within us. It's upon us, especially as supporters to look at our own suffering, to transform it likely with deep compassion so that in order to support someone else, we are not also doling out our own pain and suffering. And same with grievers, you know, it's a little bit trickier, and I feel like we ask for it by virtue of the experience for a little more grace, but I was irritable in my grief. That my pain was so thick and so deep that it was almost impossible in most moments, especially in the beginning, to transform it. Therefore, I was certainly doling it out even if it was on the internal loop. So ways we might shift are by acknowledging, managing, and tending to our grief, by being present in it, by really everybody just accepting the fact that it cannot be fixed. And another thing I encourage people to do is really decide what healing is.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:06:09

Healing for years, I, like, wouldn't use that word. I wonder what I used instead. I can't remember. But one day I decided it was gonna be okay because I was gonna decide what healing meant for me instead of being told what healing meant. And I think culturally, we're told a lot that healing means returning to what once was. And in all cases, but when you're dealing with matters of the heart and grief and loss, we know for sure we can't return to what once was. So how do we heal with what is? Has to include the wound, the loss, the shift, the transition, has to involve finding a relationship with what is. And what you'll often hear me say is, how do I live in this reality, this actual reality in the most meaningful way? And so I'll challenge clients to define healing for themselves because that's my way of sort of going against the system, going against the cultural grain that says it's already decided for us, and to really tease out whether or not that's a measurable outcome for them and if it's achievable.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:07:02

So if somebody says like, oh, my I'll know I'm on my path to healing when I don't think about my loss anymore. I might push back against that because I know that that's probably not very achievable, at least right now. So I might say something like, what if we back that up a little bit and said, I know I'm on the path to healing when it's not the very first thing that comes to mind in the morning, or I know I'm on the path to healing if, yeah, it comes to mind first thing in the morning and I get up anyway. So how can I define that in ways that allow me to achieve it, to be proving? Acceptance, living with, learning to live with. You know, another one that often comes up is I'll know I'm on the path to healing when I laugh really hard and don't feel weird about it. That was a big one. I would manufacture laughter by watching this one really hilarious episode of a really ridiculous sitcom because I knew it would make me laugh, and I couldn't remember what that felt like. And that became part of my quantifiable measurement for healing was that I could laugh really hard at this thing, even though I was manufacturing it.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:08:05

And I I didn't feel weird about it. It didn't feel like I was dismissing my grief for not honoring my daughter, or how could a mother in my situation ever laugh again? Well, I can, and I must. And so that was one way in which I was able to define a part of my healing process. So, you know, pause. Hit pause on this podcast. How will I know I'm healing? What are those measurable outcomes for me? What are and are they achievable? The new language of grief was developed when I was sitting on the front porch with my husband, and he and I were watching, we live near a school, and we were watching the kids walk to school. And I was thinking at the moment like, oh, I wonder what Marley would be wearing. Would she have a pink backpack and a pink jacket and pink shoes and pink tights and skipping, and her hair would be in bows? And, you know, I was kind of like in this imagination of what she would be doing today and who would be her friends be at this point.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:08:55

Would they be the same? And he was in a different place, and he turned to me and he said, you know, it's kinda hard sometimes, Sarah, because I don't feel like we go down memory lane. I don't feel like we share in the memories of Marley much, and it means so much to me. I noticed that time and memories was typically really hard for me. I kinda have some unique stories in my mind about the memories, and it's like if you visit the same place over and over, doesn't it kinda lose its shine? And so I treat my memories like that, good, bad, indifferent. I don't know. That's what happens for me and my brain. So I visit them cautiously and sparingly almost because often I'm not I don't find an incredible amount of comfort there. I find deep pain and sadness, and that's just part of who I am in my grief journey.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:09:39

But what he was saying is that's not for him. That comfort and love is found in those memories for him. And at that moment, I heard him asking me, like, can you please do this with me? And, hey, guess what? I was just sitting here thinking about where she would be and what she would be doing and what she'd be wearing. And he's like, oh gosh, no, sir. That's too painful for me. So I noticed in that moment, these two languages, right, one of memories and one of imagination, and how we both knew that they were tools for comfort. And all of a sudden, we had a way of talking about it. So I kept thinking about all the different ways, and there's a 1,000,000 and a half.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:10:14

And I have only captured 7 of them to talk about with you, but there's probably about a1000000 and a half different ways that we could learn about ourselves that we're coping, comforting ourselves, and how to offer it to somebody else. So, yeah, the first one, memories. Can your memories help integrate your current life, this current reality with the grief? And the questions to ask yourself or you as a supporter or a griever are, you know, are you or the griever in your life using memories to comfort your spirit? And there's only one way to really find out is maybe ask the griever or, of course, turn inside and ask yourself and notice what feelings come with the memories. For me, deep sadness. I mean, some memories, I think, bring me joy at this point, but still there's a resistance to me spending a lot of time in memories. That's just me. Does talking about memories bring you comfort? Does it feel like it helps? Test it out, ask your griever. You wanna talk about some memories? I think that would make you feel pretty good, more connected, back in the love.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:11:12

And so as a supporter, you can use thoughtful investigation, like the questions we just asked, to elicit memory talk, spend time in memories, ask if looking at pictures brings them some comfort, you know, or is it like an assault? It might be 1 or the other, but it what an incredible way of supporting somebody you love. Okay. There's the physical. This is a big one for a lot of people, I think. Sitting still, not being able to move, that's one part of it. But the other part is this, like, constant need to move. I know for me that in the beginning, walking and still remains today is a huge source of comfort, moving my body, being in nature, getting fresh air, passing the time quite honestly, because often in grief, we'll find that, like, the clock just slowly ticks on, especially during certain parts of the day, which I think are most identified as evening hours. It's kind of like the final drain of the day.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:12:05

When do I get to finally crawl into bed and let this day be over? I found that being in physical movement and not rigorous physical exercise, like literally walking slowly through my neighborhood was a way to pass that time, was also a way for me to be less stimulated and just kind of literally and figuratively marching to the beat of my own drum. So you can ask, you know, does the griever have a hard time sitting still? And at what point of the day does that really set in? So does physical exercise provide a sense of calm, maybe even meditation? And how can you support your griever or ask for support as a griever? Hey. I'm finding myself having a really hard time sitting still. Any chance you wanna take a walk with me? I don't know if we need to talk about much, but I just need to be moving. That's a really clear, concise way of teaching yourself, 1, as griever, what comforts you, and also asking for the type of support that's most meaningful. You know, yoga was an incredible part of my life during, especially, those 1st years of dark grief. My friends knew that. They made sure I got there.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:13:04

Most of the time, even picking me up sometimes even at 5:30 in the morning to get me there because they knew they couldn't say anything to help me, but they could make sure I got to the yoga studio and move my body. And honestly, that yoga I was doing was Vinyasa, Baptiste Vinyasa yoga. And it's not for everybody. It's not available to everybody. But if you find yourself as somebody who is available to that, it was the only way I could get my brain to stop. To be lost in the meditation of the practice was the only way I could really get my brain to just take a beat, take a minute, take a respite. And oftentimes, by the final pose, which is called shavasana, I was back in it, sometimes curled up in a ball and sobbing. However, I got at least a chunk of time doing something other than heavy duty, heavy lifting, grieving.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:13:51

And so that that was the physical for me. The next one is imagery, fantasy. That's what I was talking about when I was, like, picturing my daughter walking down the street as she would be today if she were alive. So do you or the griever spend time wondering what would dad say? Oh, my gosh. Let's think about what dad would say right now and laugh really hard. One of my upcoming guests will tell a story about a time that she experienced an incredible shift in her grief when she thought about where her mother would be the day of of the Capitol insurrection, and we'll leave that up to the mind and the mystery till she's here with us to tell the story. But what a perfect example of, wow. I'm finding comfort in my grief really laughing at what so and so, mom, dad, daughter, brother, sister, all the things, would be doing right now or saying right now.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:14:38

And that can be kind of a connection, a portal to their legacy when we script it for them and in their words. So what feelings? Ask yourself or the griever. You know, what feelings come with the wonder? Like my husband said that day, terrible. Makes me so sad. Okay. Well, that's really valuable information. And for me, it brought, like, a sense of normalcy. And in an earlier episode, you heard me talk about, you know, shopping for a little girl the age that Marley would be on on her birthday so that I could feel normal at the store doing the thing that a mom's supposed to be doing on the 11th birthday of her daughter.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:15:14

Not normal part is that my daughter is gone and I'm shopping for a stranger. But if I allow myself to use this language of imagery and fantasy, it gives me half an hour or 45 minutes of feeling like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing as her mom, a piece of this life that I miss, that I can't recreate unless I actually recreate it. So finding connection and imagining together or supporting somebody in that mindset. Oh, Sarah, that sounds great. Let's do it. Let's pretend we're shopping for Marley. Let's pretend you get to do the thing that you don't get to do otherwise. Next is contemplation.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:15:52

So how comfortable are you as a giver or supporter with stillness and silence? How do you or the griever respond to the stimulus and take note of reaction to things like bright light, loud noise, unending questions? What is the griever doing? Engaging, withdrawing, increased irritability, softening around the edges? Like, notice what's happening when all of this energy is around the griever. And for some, I hear stories all the time with grievers that are like, oh, I need the music on. I need this is on the I'm moving. I'm shaking. I got my friends around me all the time. I'm busy. I'm going to work because that brings me comfort. So I wouldn't say they're spending a lot of time in the language of contemplation because it's not bringing them comfort.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:16:34

So notice those cues, and you can offer support in connection through being still, present, limiting conversation, responding to environmental cues, and really importantly is understanding the difference between contemplation and isolation, because we worry about grief versus isolation, and it's a slippery slope because I know that if at the end of a contemplative period in my grief, I walk away and go, oh, man, I really needed that. I needed that quiet downtime. I needed that dark room. I needed that soft pillow and no interaction. I needed that because now I can go do the next thing. And the difference between that and isolation is isolation drives isolation drives isolation. And so if we're not finding any replenishment in this solitude, in this contemplation, it might be worth noting that we're slipping into isolation, which might not be driven by comfort, but instead by fear or angst or anxiety. And so what can we do to insert some more support there? But noticing that is most important because to assume your grieving contemplation is automatically isolating is not always fair because sometimes grievers need quiet space to reckon with what the hell just happened to their life.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:17:48

Obviously, the afterlife is a huge language. So many are comforted knowing that their loved one is on the other side waiting for them in whatever way that looks for you? And are are you or the griever comforted in belief of the afterlife or of heaven? Has eternal life been a common thread in your conversation with the griever? And does the griever, and only the griever gets to say this. We, as supporters, do not get to inject our values on this into the grief of another. Does the griever say, I know. I know he or she is in a better place? And if they do, wow, capitalize on that tool. Use that to provide and offer comfort to your griever. Because for a griever to say that means that it is comforting to them to know it, and you can provide connection through support, prayer, faith, traditions, and ritual. And you've probably heard in an earlier podcast what ritual is to me, and it's history.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:18:42

There's a reminder of what once was. Intention, here's why I'm doing it today. And action, here's what I'm gonna do. And that can be as simple as lighting and blowing out a match. I mean, it doesn't have to be big or fancy, but those are ways in which we can connect. Supernatural. A lot of people talk about the supernatural. And what I mean by that is, are there signs from the deceased? I think oftentimes, rainbows show up for people as signs.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:19:09

For me, feathers are a sign. And, you know, the big point, and this is really illustrated in David Kessler's book Finding Meaning, the bigger point is not that Marley has dipped down from heaven and plucked a feather from a bird and placed it in my path. I don't know. Maybe she is. That'd be pretty cool, but it's not as relevant as when I find a feather. I pause. I tune into the connection, tune into the love I have for her, and there's comfort there for me. Additionally, my supporters, when they find feathers, and I know that a lot of them take a picture of it and send it to me, which is such a wonderful, wonderful thing for them to do.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:19:48

And if they don't have capacity to do that, I know that when they find a there's at least 25 people out there that can't find a feather without thinking about Marley. Wow. That's pretty cool. That is a source of enormous comfort to me as her mom. So it's not so much about how the feather got there. It's that I'm allowed to attach meaning to something like this. Okay? And, again, David Kessler's book, Finding Meaning, is great in talking about this whole what it means in this last stage of grief to find and associate meaning with things. So which sign for your griever or yourself has been identified as meaningful? A feather, a dime, a rainbow, a dragonfly, a butterfly, falling leaves, crunching leaves, the full moon? I don't know.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:20:27

The list goes there's infinity things that could qualify as a sign from your loved one. But allowing that to provide deep and meaningful connection between this world and the other can be such a tool for connection and comfort for the grievers. So sharing in that, like my supporters do, they they send the picture of the feather. That's so great. What a way to support me. It means something. And diversion. Diversion is us being involved and engaged in all the other parts of us outside of our grief, because believe it or not, you are more than your grief.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:21:00

And although there are days, weeks, months, even years, that feel like that's a crazy thing to think, you are still more than your grief. And if you choose when and how to engage with all the other parts of you that still exist, that can be a source of comfort. It doesn't mean you're denying your grief. Good luck. Good luck denying your grief. Good luck ignoring it. Good luck shoving it away. People are scared they're gonna do that.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:21:23

And I'm like, well, does it feel like you're living with all your grief? And they're always like, well, no, it's right here. I'm like, exactly. Don't worry about that. You're allowed to engage in other parts of your life. How else will you learn to live in this reality in the most meaningful way? So using diversion as a source of comfort, I think is an incredible tool, and one that supporters should be cautious of using as a critical mark against the grief process. You know, I'll hear, which you've heard another podcast too about the, you know, yeah, you're back to work too. Say, oh, it's too you should get back to work, get your mind off it. It's like, let's just let the griever decide what they need.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:21:58

And when they're ready to engage in the other parts of their life, let them. Or maybe they have to go to work. Maybe they don't get time off to grieve. So let that be a source of comfort for them by putting it through this filter. You must engage in the other parts of your life. That's okay. And if you go to my website, clearmorning.org, and that's m o u r n I n g, you'll find what's called the grief supporters manual. I hope that this is a tool or can be a tool for supporters or grievers to offer and ask for the most meaningful support.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:22:29

There is no road map for this. And if you're living it, you know that more than anybody. There's no road map for how to be the best supporter. There's no road map for how to do grief. It unfolds. And what we have to do is trust the process. Barf everywhere. Right? Trust the process.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:22:44

That's what we have to do. And with integrity, with intention, with strategy and support, that process can look maybe a little less chaotic, a tiny bit more predictable if we're allowing ourselves to capitalize on the wisdom of our experience, for allowing to receive support that's most meaningful to us. If we're asking for support that's most meaningful to us as grievers, maybe that process that you have to trust has a little more influence based on these things. I don't know. Maybe. But in the grief supporters manual, it says, as your supporter, you can trust I will. Let you be yourself. That I will not hurry you along through your day, your week, or your grief.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:23:28

That I will have an abundance of compassion, which means, oh, I'm your supporter, and I've texted you 3 times, and you haven't written back. I mean, you're allowed to say like, hey, a response would be really meaningful to me, and you're hopefully allowed to also not take it personally. So I'll be present in your grief by listening, validating, and honoring where you are today. And today is in big letters with purple writing because the one thing about grief for sure is, like, every day, if not every hour, is very different. And so where I am today is very different than where I might be tomorrow and the next day. So as a supporter, if you can say, like, I understand that that's a part of this, what a gift. And as a supporter, agreeing to be yourself and honor your boundaries. Yeah.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:24:06

I can't take calls after 10 PM. Or, hey. If you don't respond to my text after day 3, I start to really assume the worst and it starts to gobble up at me. Can you please send me a note that you're okay or a thumbs up or, you know, negotiate ways to take care of that? As a supporter, you too are allowed to have boundaries. I just wanna say that. As a supporter, I'll take the lead in our relationship as needed and understand that the dynamics are constantly changing. For example, we're going out to dinner. Maybe you ask the Griever, hey.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:24:39

I picked the steakhouse or the taco truck. Is that gonna work for you? Versus, hey, Griever, you don't know what the hell's happening in your life. Where do you wanna go for dinner? So that's like a really silly kind of small example of what it means to take the lead, but also like grievers need help with stuff. So maybe instead of asking, you just do and then check-in. I don't know. Maybe it's to like ask for forgiveness and staff permission situation. But I know at least for me in times when people just, like, made the call and then asked me if it was okay and and they were ready to pivot, if I was like, hell no. I'm not doing that.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:25:04

That's okay. But I think, like, taking the lead can be really helpful or at least checking in about that. Like, hey. Do you mind if I just take the lead on this so you don't even have to think about it? From what I know of grievers, majority of the time, that's gonna be really, really helpful. I'm gonna be patient with your process by being patient with you. Oh, God. Such a gift if people are patient with me and especially in the darker days. So lovely.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:25:30

I mean, we should all be patient with each other anyway. Like, call out, let's just try to be more patient with each other. And amidst the grief process, patience is, like, vital. I'm gonna honor the grief and the gratitude of your spoken or unspoken experience. I'm gonna be sensitive to your triggers. I will share what I think will be helpful and remain open to feedback. Like, hey. You haven't eaten in a couple days.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:25:52

I think you should eat something. Screw you. I'm not gonna eat anything. Okay. Where do we go from here? But you're saying, like, I'm not gonna pretend I don't see things that are concerning. I'm going to talk about them. And if that's not okay with you or you don't agree, I'm willing to hear it, but I'm not gonna pretend I don't see it. And I'm gonna pay attention to what you're telling me.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:26:12

All the things. I'm tired. I'm not tired. I need quiet. I need loud. I need walking. I need stillness. I need to be left alone.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:26:20

I can't respond. Come up with an easier way for me to respond. I mean, there's a lot of cues out there that, as supporters, you could pay attention to, and let that information be meaningful. So that's the grief supporters manual. I'm clearly open for feedback if that if you didn't know that. I am open for feedback if there's something missing there. And as a griever, maybe you pause. And this gets like a journal entry or a conversation you start with another griever or bring to a grief support group is, you know, as a griever, you can trust I will.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:26:50

Write your own manifesto. And I do this in grief groups, and some of the ones that have come up are, as a griever, you can trust I will, want to hear his or her name. I will welcome any unexpected phone calls. I will be open to making plans together. I will appreciate you taking the lead when I am in great areas. I will know the boundaries of my grief and emotional capabilities. I will do it when I can do it and be confident in your willingness to understand. So those were just a couple that had come up, and they were kind of themes.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:27:23

I've heard them a few times in the grief groups I've led. And I think it's a really valuable exercise as a griever to say like, what can the people in my life expect from me at this moment? I mean, maybe it says you can expect nothing. I don't know. That's still valuable information. So if you're gonna grieve her, what happens if you pause and ask yourself, as a griever, you can trust I will what? So that's called the new languages of grief. If you pop on my website and sign up for my newsletter, you'll be alerted as to when I give that workshop. When I'm in a workshop session, I have a little more interactivity and we do some things together, some exercises together. But, you know, in the context of this podcast, I'm challenging you to identify what healing means to you.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:28:03

I'm challenging you to think about ways in which these languages of grief come in and out of your day and how you can capitalize on that information to offer, ask for, and engage in the most meaningful type of support. And I'm gonna ask you if you're a griever, you know, what can we expect from you as a griever? That you will what? Be open, be closed, be quiet, be loud, be responsive, not be? Thanks so much for being here today. Thanks so much for listening to me and allowing me to do my own work through this work, that every time I talk about these things and share my story and and engage in this work, that I too am transforming my suffering, it's a really big deal. And I I appreciate your time and your energy around listening to me, being present to these experiences, and whatever part of it you can take home to yourself or the people you love, I hope it was worth it. Thank you for joining us on enduring grief, healing practices and true stories of living after loss. We hope today's conversation brought you comfort, understanding, or simply the assurance that you're not alone in your grief. If you found this episode helpful, please share it with someone who might need to hear it and subscribe as a way to stay connected. We'll be back next week with more personal stories and practical guidance for navigating the complexities of loss.

Sarah Peterson [: 00:29:19

Until then, take care of yourself and remember, there's no right or wrong way to grieve. You have the freedom to mourn in the way that feels true to you.