On this side of death, we simultaneously hold so very many “both/ands.” My colleague and dear friend Jill had a conversation with me about grief, and how we constantly hold both grief and joy (and a bazillion emotions, thoughts, and feelings in between).

In our conversation Jill shared about wondering if she would ever get out of her “grief bed” and how grief coaching offered healing and forward movement, noting that the grief never fully goes away.

A young friend of mine is fighting for her life this week, due to crazy circumstances and a perfect storm of sickness and other random factors. It makes me want to scream and cry and ask God, “Why why why?!”

In this crazy life, where grief and joy and all the other things constantly intermingle, it is vital we find safe spaces to consistently consider questions like:

What am I grieving right now?
How is my grief showing up (in my body, in my actions, in my thoughts)?
How am I working through and naming my grief?
Who is in my support circle? Who is my “fire” team?
What offers me hope?
What am I grateful for?

I wish I had a lot of advice and could wrap this topic up with clear and helpful next steps. But I can’t. I can only offer the reminder that we all hold tension, to some degree, all the time. And sometimes all we can do is try to hang on.