Grief is a journey—not a place.

It’s a heartbreaking adventure. A sad chapter in the book. Grief is debilitating days and paralyzing moments.

But it’s not a place. It’s not meant to be stagnant or stayed in. It’s not a place of permanence but rather a journey of growth. A journey of pain, of loss, of self-awareness, of love.

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It’s a journey of healing and transformation. It’s taking the brokenness and rearranging it. It’s stepping forward into the next phase of the path even though it hurts.

It never ends. It never stops. But neither do you.

You walk this heartbreaking adventure every day. By braving the step each morning, you eventually breathe easier, carry the weight better, and learn to walk with the emptiness.

You are transforming each day from a place of loss. Waiting to be filled with love, hope, and healing.

You will never overcome grief. It’s not something to win or be defeated. You’ll simply learn to live with it, to let it live within you. It will become just as much a part of you as the very one you lost.

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You walk the path of grief knowing you’ll never stop walking. You’ll never make it to a final stop because grief isn’t a place, it’s a journey. Yet you keep stepping anyway. For that, you are a leader of hope and an overcomer of pain.

One day, you realize you’re the guide, the one who decides the steps. This is the day you find yourself less paralyzed and more powerful.

Keep taking those steps and keep letting grief transform you. You may not realize it today or even tomorrow, but you have strength and bravery.

Every day you wake up and venture deeper into the journey, you honor the love that started this journey in the first place.

Keep stepping . . . keep going . . . keep growing.

Previously published on the author’s blog