Losing a child is very difficult. It’s so difficult of they have siblings as well. How do you explain to them that their sibling is never coming back? How do you deal with the pain and loss that someone so young has to feel? How can you as a parent help them work through their pain? These are all questions I’ve pondered often.

Asking for help, and letting others help in a time of crisis and deep pain is so important to your well-being. I know it’s difficult to accept help. But you cannot and should not do these difficult tasks alone. We are not meant to journey by ourselves and do everything alone, so please allow your support group to surround you and help carry you.

Learning to live with grief is a painful and lonely process. It’s a path no one chooses to take, but are you are on now. We don’t ever forget the ones we have lost. I want to encourage you to learn to live with your grief.

There was an old man’s response to the question, “My friend just died, I don’t know what to do.” that went viral on the internet. I read it right after Aria died, and it has stuck with me, so I wanted to share it with you.

Grief can be very trying and scary, and I really believe exercise can be an amazing tool in your toolbelt to learn how to live with grief. It’s so important for your mental health and emotional health to take care of yourself.

We all fight this thought of “I’ve got it worse” and try to tell other people that their own struggles are nothing, because look at this person, or look at me, I’ve got it way worse than you. This is not helpful in encouraging and uplifting each other. Let’s work on empathy and not sympathy.

Leaning into our pain and letting ourselves grieve can be so hard and so difficult. I want to encourage you and help you see that feeling that pain is the way to learning to live with your new life.

Helping a grieving friend can be very intimidating and scary. There are many things I wished others could understand, but couldn’t always explain at the time.