Why Does Grief Come Back? Understanding Grief Waves, Triggers, and Regrief
You can be having a perfectly normal day, minding your business, maybe even feeling pretty good about life. Then a song comes on, a memory pops up, or something reminds you of what you've lost, and suddenly grief is right there again.
What the hell? Weren't things getting better?
One of the more confusing parts of grief is how unexpectedly it can resurface.
Why Does Grief Affect Us the Way It Does? 5 Grief Theories Explained
Explore five major grief theories that help explain why loss affects our emotions, relationships, identity, and worldview. From Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory and Bowlby’s Attachment Theory to Continuing Bonds, Meaning Reconstruction, and Shattered Assumptions, discover how grief psychology has evolved and how these perspectives can help us better understand the complexities of grief, healing, and life after loss.
Grief Models: Is There Really a “Right” Way to Grieve?
Explore five grief models, including the 5 and 7 Stages of Grief, Growing Around Grief, Worden’s Four Tasks, and the Dual Process Model. Learn how these frameworks help explain the grieving process, emotional ups and downs, and adapting to life after loss—while reminding us that grief isn't linear, healing looks different for everyone, and joy and grief can coexist.
Introducing Griefology Notes
Griefology Notes is a mini podcast offering bite-sized grief education for limited bandwidth. In each 5–10 minute episode, we’ll explore a grief concept, model, theory, or experience in a way that feels clear, approachable, and relevant to real life.
The Quiet Grief of Changing Friendships
Friendship loss doesn’t always come with a dramatic ending. Sometimes it looks like growing apart, realizing a relationship has changed, or recognizing that a friendship wasn’t quite what you thought it was. The Quiet Grief of Changing Friendships explores why these shifts can feel so painful—and how naming them as grief can help us move through them.
Grief Therapy vs. Grief Coaching: Which One’s Right for You?
Grief therapy and grief coaching both offer meaningful support — but they’re not the same. This post breaks down the key differences between grief therapy and grief coaching, including who each is for, how they work, and when one might be more supportive than the other. You’ll learn how licensure and scope of practice matter, why transparency is essential when seeking grief support, and how some licensed grief therapists can ethically offer both. Whether you’re deep in the pain of loss or beginning to imagine life beyond it, this guide helps you choose the support that meets you where you are.
Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder + Grief
As the days get shorter and the light fades faster, many people notice their grief beginning to stir in ways they didn’t expect. If you’ve been feeling more emotional, more tired, more sensitive, or more overwhelmed lately, you’re not alone. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) doesn’t just impact mood. It affects energy, sleep, concentration, and emotional regulation — all the places grief already lives.
Caring for Your Grieving Heart Over the Holidays
Discover compassionate tips for coping with grief during the holidays. Learn how to honor your loss, set boundaries, and find moments of peace and meaning in the midst of the season.
The Grief of the In-Between
Feeling stuck in the space between what was and what’s next? Learn how to navigate the grief of the in-between—a liminal space of transition, uncertainty, and quiet growth—with compassion, grounding, and clarity.
No One Told Me I’d Grieve My Mom More Than Once
Regrief is what happens when you lose a parent and find yourself grieving them again and again as life changes. Learn how this lifelong grief evolves and why it’s a reflection of enduring love.
Grieving a Loss in Your Identity
Grieving identity loss is often invisible but deeply real. Learn how identity shifts through life changes or death create unique forms of grief.
Grieving a Diagnosis: When Loss Isn’t About Death
Grief isn’t just about death. Receiving a diagnosis—whether for yourself or a loved one—can trigger deep grief over lost certainty, identity, and dreams. Learn why grieving a diagnosis matters and how to cope with compassion.
PTSD vs. Grief: Why They’re Not the Same (But Can Overlap)
Discover the difference between grief and PTSD, how they overlap, and why understanding both matters. Learn how grief is a natural response to loss while PTSD is the brain stuck in survival mode—and why support looks different for each.
Carrying Love Forward: Healing Through the Four Tasks of Grief
Learn how Worden’s Four Tasks of Grief—accepting the reality of loss, feeling the pain, adjusting to a changed world, and finding lasting connection—can guide you through healing. Grief isn’t stages, it’s work, and these tasks offer compassionate tools for moving forward while honoring your love.
The Many Faces of Grief: Understanding the Different Types of Grief
Explore the many types of grief—anticipatory, disenfranchised, complicated, and more—and why naming your grief helps you heal.