Speaking up

Waking to silence is about my partner’s dying and death and my journey with grief.

This is my raw truth about a heart-breaking experience.  A journey of thoughts and emotions that have spilled out of my mind and made their way onto these pages.  I’m a private person, so no one is more surprised than me that they are now in a public place.

I’ve struggled to learn that grief is my friend, not the enemy. That I can go to pieces without falling apart. [1] That facing my pain is far more helpful than shutting it down in my stoic old-me way.

I’m speaking up because so many people want to shut grief down.  They tire of it and want us to be happy again – not understanding the impact of grief avoidance and the isolation that many grieving people feel.

I worry about people struggling with their grief alone.  Particularly those who may not know that what they are thinking and doing is normal, that it’s ok to not be ok. [2]

You are not alone.  Many people are struggling to live with and understand dying, death, and grief.

We are speaking up – building a movement one person at a time to cast aside the veil of silence over our culture of death and grief avoidance.

Welcome to my journey.

Freya.

[1] Going to Pieces without Falling Apart, Mark Epstein

[2] It’s ok that you’re not ok, Megan Devine