August 3, 2021

It’s Time to Change the Toxic Narrative Around Grief

The weekend that I graduated from law school in 2009, my mother told me that she had been diagnosed with ALS. After watching her lose the ability to speak, eat and eventually breathe, she died the following summer. After two battles with cancer, my father passed away four summers later.

Before my parents died, I was blissfully unaware of mental health. A heartbreak was the biggest challenge I had faced emotionally.

After they passed, intense sadness and anxiety filled my days. I felt physically sick thinking about how many moments I’d miss with my parents, especially that my children would never meet them.