Finding Forward: Navigating Life After Loss

Grief changes you. It shifts the way you see the world, the way you move through it, and the way you show up for yourself and others. After my miscarriage, I felt stuck in a place where time seemed to stand still. The days blurred together, and the weight of the loss made it hard to imagine a future where I could feel whole again.

But grief, as heavy and all-consuming as it is, doesn’t stop life from moving forward. And slowly, I realized that if life was going to move forward, I had to find a way to move with it.

The Weight of Standing Still

In the immediate aftermath of my loss, I didn’t want to move forward. I wanted to stay in that cocoon of grief, where it felt safer to hold onto the pain than to risk letting it go. Moving forward felt like a betrayal—like I was leaving behind the baby I’d lost, the dreams I’d built, and the version of myself that had existed before the miscarriage.

But staying still wasn’t sustainable. Grief has a way of isolating you, of making you feel like you’re the only one in the world who knows this pain. And while I knew I needed time to sit with my feelings, I also knew I couldn’t stay there forever.

What “Forward” Looks Like

Finding forward didn’t mean “getting over” my loss. It didn’t mean forgetting or pretending it didn’t happen. Instead, it meant learning how to carry my grief with me while still making space for hope, joy, and possibility.

For me, “forward” looked like small, intentional steps:

• Allowing myself to feel: I stopped trying to push away the sadness or pretend I was okay when I wasn’t. I gave myself permission to cry, to grieve, and to let the emotions come as they needed to.

• Reconnecting with myself: Grief had a way of making me feel disconnected from my body and my sense of self. I found healing in small acts of self-care—taking walks, journaling, and even just sitting quietly with a cup of tea.

• Opening up: Sharing my story with others, whether through conversations with loved ones or writing about my experience, helped me feel less alone. It reminded me that grief is universal, even if each loss is deeply personal.

The Turning Point

There wasn’t a single moment when everything changed—no big epiphany or sudden shift. Instead, it was a series of small moments that added up over time. A day when I laughed for the first time in weeks. A morning when I woke up and felt a little lighter. A conversation that reminded me I wasn’t alone.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that healing isn’t linear. Some days, it felt like I was making progress; other days, it felt like I was right back where I started. But even on the hardest days, I reminded myself that moving forward didn’t mean leaving my grief behind—it meant learning how to live alongside it.

Hope on the Horizon

Finding forward is an ongoing journey. It’s not about reaching a destination or “fixing” what’s broken—it’s about finding ways to keep going, even when it feels impossible. It’s about discovering that life can hold both grief and joy, pain and healing, loss and love.

Grief is a part of my story, but it’s not the whole story. And as I continue to move forward, I’m learning that there’s so much more to discover on the other side of loss.

If you’re reading this and you’re in the thick of grief, I want you to know this: You don’t have to have it all figured out. You don’t have to rush your healing or force yourself to “move on.” Finding forward doesn’t mean leaving your grief behind—it simply means taking one small step, and then another, and then another.

Closing Thought

Grief has taught me that life is fragile, but it’s also resilient. It has shown me the depths of my pain but also the strength I never knew I had. Finding forward isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. Because even in the midst of loss, there’s still so much life left to live.