August 2018 to February 2019 will go down in history as the worst six months of my life.
Cliff’s Notes: Dog Died, Mom Got Cancer, Relationship Ended, Dad Died.
It was a lot.
I’ve read and studied so much about grief in the past few years — at the time, I thought it was to help my clients. Because grief is part of any major life change.
Little did I know, I was preparing to survive the worst year ever.
In some ways, I was prepared. And in other ways: it is impossible to prepare.
These are a handful of tools that helped me survive the worst year of my life.
Hopefully, they will help you in your hour of deepest need.
Just like anything, practice makes better. (I don’t believe in perfect anymore.) After each loss, I got better at each of these. I am so grateful I had many of them in place before my dog Bodhi died — because without them, I would likely be in corner somewhere, drinking cheap box wine and eating ice cream straight from the container.
Without further ado: