STILL: Grieving in the Second Year and Beyond Now Available on Amazon:

Still sad. Still crying. Still grieving.

Early grief, as unbearable as it is, comes with something: information, attention, permission, resources, language. There are books to read, people checking in, and plenty of advice about what to expect.

But then, the first year ends. The first set of anniversaries, holidays, and occasions have come and gone. The people around you have gone back to their lives. And the question becomes: Shouldn’t I be doing better by now?

Regardless of how much time has passed, living with loss can often feel harder instead of easier. And with that can come another question: Do I even have the right to still be affected by this? To still want to talk about them? To still miss them? To still have days when I’m not okay?

The years after a loss are full of contradictions. You can be okay and not okay. You can miss the person you lost and still want something for yourself. You can let your life change without deciding that you have to become someone else. And you can find moments of peace while knowing that you’ll never stop grieving.

STILL is a Grief Brain Reader for anyone who is living with loss beyond the first year—and trying to figure out what it means to carry it into the life that comes after.