Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Grief and depression can look alike, but they are not the same — and knowing the difference matters. Here’s how to tell grief from clinical depression, why they sometimes overlap, and when it’s time to reach out for help.
Saturday, June 27, 2026
Most mornings, the sun rises in grayscale, weighted between two gravities. I fasten the mask again— it’s thin, too thin— hoping it veils what flickers beneath. I’m tired of being praised for holding it together— as though silence is sainthood, as though endurance is free. I wonder, if the colors I see are the same as yours. Is my red the burn of a star too near, my blue a trench that swallows light? Are both tethered by forces I can’t unlearn, by concepts I have no words for? You see a calm ocean; I see depths […]
Monday, June 30, 2025
Losing a Husband When he used to take off his socks next to our bed and throw them ceremoniously to the cork floor, he would spread the fingers of his chubby peasant hands on the wall of our bedroom to keep his balance before rocketing into bed beside me. It took at least three years to have a finished wall in that bedroom. Seeing his greasy fingerprints all over my carefully chosen hue of green with a matte finish made me grouchy. Now, I recline with four pillows surrounding me as I look at his fingerprints, which are almost all […]
Monday, January 6, 2025
When Grief Affects Your Mood It was one of those days. You know what I’m talking about; when you wake up tired and you can’t quite sort out how you’re going to do all the things? There have been a lot of these kinds of days for me lately, as we’ve been in the full tilt of holiday energy. Sometimes I can remember why it might be harder this year than others. Sometimes I forget. When I forget is when things get more complicated. I’ve found over the years that the holidays, as nice as they can be, also hold […]
Monday, June 10, 2024
Woman In A Blue Padded Folding Chair Stop. Breathe. Be. Inhale. Exhale. Wait. I’m sitting in a blue padded folding chair in the basement of a church trying to learn how to meditate. Stop. Breathe. Be. Inhale. Exhale… This just isn’t working for me. It’s the second week of a ten-week course I didn’t want to take in the first place. But, today I especially don’t want to be here. When I woke up in the morning the first thing I thought was, “How many minutes ‘til one o’clock?” I showered and dressed and looked at the clock. I went […]
Monday, February 19, 2024
Grief is a highly individual and complex emotional experience that manifests differently in each of us. People may express their grief through a variety of emotions and behaviours. Some common ways grief can manifest include: SADNESS AND TEARFULNESS Grief can often involve a deep sense of sadness with memories that can leave many people tearful. ANGER AND GUILT People can often feel angry at their situation, at themselves around their loss. Through grief, they may also direct their anger at others. Guilt around loss can be something individuals grapple with. Some individuals may also feel remorse, questioning if they should […]
Thursday, August 17, 2023
After a Daughter Dies The experience of my daughter’s illness and death had seemingly sent me to hell and back. I became engulfed by rage, and my depression had finally whacked me out. It meant nothing to curl into a fetal position, with my back curved, head bowed, and all limbs bent and drawn in. I could have stayed that way endlessly. I’ll say this again: parents aren’t expected to live to bury their children. And when they do, the impact can be heartbreaking, devastating. Although the wounds mend, they are never fully healed—especially during holidays, birthdays, graduations, wedding ceremonies, […]
Monday, January 30, 2023
Are We Feeling Sad or Being Sad? Do you ever hear a story or a comment that really stays with you? It hangs out in the back of your mind and repeatedly pops up to the front of your mind when you’re not looking? It’s an idea searching for a home in your head or heart. You, however, are not so sure you want to give this idea even temporary lodging much less allow it to unpack its bags and settle in. But there’s something there, or you think there might be, so you keep returning to it, considering, turning […]
Thursday, January 5, 2023
Coping With the Down Days The year after my husband John died, my grief brain was at its peak. I wanted to give my brain a rest, but I couldn’t do that. There were dozens of tasks on my to-do list, and progress ranged from slow to nil. Recovering from grief brain was a slow process that came in spurts. I never slipped into classical depression, thank goodness. My brain struggled to adapt to the loss of my beloved John and the onset of more grief. I often felt “down” and wondered if I really was getting depressed. Clinical depression […]
Thursday, September 22, 2022
There is a common saying in life, ‘nothing lasts forever.’ Unfortunately, this sentiment is true. As such, when we go through loss, whether that loss relates to a job, pet, friend or family member, some common emotions begin to surface. Understanding our emotions during grief will help us heal. Tangled up in loss are often feelings of sadness, grief and even depression. While it can be easy to think that these emotions are interchangeable, that isn’t quite the case. In fact, these three emotional states are quite different. Undoubtedly a heavy topic, it’s still good to understand elements of sadness, […]
Open to Hope is an online community offering inspirational stories of loss, hope and recovery. We believe hope is the bridge between loss and recovery.
