Three years after my husband’s suicide, I reflect on grief, unhealthy relationships, self-medication, and the uncomfortable truth that healing is not the same as romanticizing the past. Sometimes survival means accepting that there will never be perfect answers — only the choice to keep moving forward.
Tag: healing
Survival Mode Was Never Meant to Be Permanent
Long-term trauma changes the body as much as the mind. A reflection on hypervigilance, chronic stress, and the exhausting reality of living in permanent survival mode.
You Can’t Go Home Again
A visit to a newly opened emergency department forces reflections on grief, regret, lost careers, unhealthy coping, and the painful realization that some versions of home can never truly be returned to.
The Grace Well Runs Dry
A raw letter to my mother three years after her death, reflecting on grief, sobriety, domestic violence, regret, family, military service, faith, and the complicated process of learning to forgive yourself.