grief is often behind what we're feeling when we experience the ambiguous sadness and lookintherearviewmirror after any loss, any change, any transition. it can be related to life adjustments or personal transitions: moving, marriage, parenthood, career changes. shifting relationships: dissolving friendships, divorce or separation, relationship loss. realizations and unmet needs: grief around what we did not get as children or how we wish we were parented differently, a longing for different experiences or opportunities, missed chances or time, and having to accept where we may be at. body grief: illness, ability loss, injury, or other bodily changes. some of you described your grief as being the result of a breakup, friends moving away, infertility, strained family relationships, career changes, and moving to a new city without the comfort of familiarity. some you talked about navigating body changes after healing your relationship with food and exercise, and that feeling confusing and hard despite the freedom and sense of deep internal care doing that work prompted in you. these are all grief alright. any change can prompt it—even changes that we welcome. grief, in its essence, is a normal and natural response to loss. it can be painful and empty. it can be nagging, hollowing, nauseating. it can also be relief, acceptance, or a demonstration of our love. there's no right. there's no wrong. there's no linearity. there's no arrival. grief shows up uniquely to all of us, so as long as we allow and make space for it. so here are a few reminders for you as you move through your grief. whatever and however it's hitting⤵ validate your grief. allow yourself to be going through longing, shedding, wondering, accepting. without conditions, without comparison, without what could be worse, or what other people may go through. this is your grief. and it's imperative to be with it and open your eyes and heart to it. explore its meaning. sometimes we can ask our grief what it's trying to show or tell us. what it wants us to see. what it's reminding us of. what it wants us to make peace with. and while there aren't always lessons we need to arrive at with life stuff we go through, i've found that giving meaning to my grief has helped me be more okay with going through it—particularly around the loss associated with relationship shifts. how we can love, care, and let go. that's wisdom that's both powerful and painful. let's let that marinade for awhile. let it ooout. talk about it. name it. journal. doodle. tell your bff. the more that we can acknowledge what we're feeling, label our emotions, put a word to describe the sensations we're experiencing, how grief shows up on our body. the sooner we can connect to ourselves and really work through and with it. unsurprisingly, we all go through a lot of unnamed grief. whether we don't really normalize non-death loss culturally or we feel alone in our grief, sharing what we're feeling can help us feel so seen. dr. kristin neff, compassion researcher and educator, reminds us in her book self-compassion of our common humanity—that we're not alone. that cultivating compassion for ourselves and others means recognizing that we go through a ton of shared experiences and we, too, deserve the empathy and softness we so readily give out. so give yourself what you offer out. maybe it's the very validation, meaning, and courage to name your grief that i'm giving you today.