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Grief comes in all forms. In this blog, we share some inspiring stories of hope, grief healing, and resilience, and individuals who’ve navigated their own grief journeys. May this inspire you to find strength and keep pushing forward, despite grief’s challenges and difficulties.
Now, onto stories of hope, grief healing, resilience, and those who’ve navigated through their own grief journeys.
#1: The Young Woman (Anonymous)
There was once a young woman who was in a very dark place. She underwent personal turmoil with the addition of a breakup. When she couldn’t go on any further, she remembered she still had to take care of someone. That someone was her horse. So, she persevered. She put all her energy and focus into training that horse until the sale day. She deepened her faith and found it was the Holy Spirit who kept her going and saved her. In moments of struggle and other forms of loss, whether it was a prominent figure or her dog, this woman turned to her faith, found healing in animals, and distractions like music and fiction. In these experiences, she discovered that she had undergone a different form of grief. It wasn’t always the typical kind that comes with death, but of loss of significant, important things in her life. She learned that prominent events change people, but it is what one chooses to do with their life after those events that matters. Let this story of the young woman be a reminder to never give up.
#2: A Father’s Loss
Many families in the United States have had the horrifying experience of losing a loved one to overdoses, such as fentanyl. It is a shocking and sudden pain to feel. One father, Greg, experienced this loss firsthand with his son. Greg described the loss he felt when asked to share his story with other families who’ve had the same experience:
“…And Drew was…the happiest day of my life was when he was born, and he always called me his hero to the day he died…His passing ruined, I thought, my life. And every parent back here that I meet, and in the audience, some of my friends, their life is gutted when they lose a kid. There’s despair and there’s hopelessness. But we’ve been able to find some repose in going out and advocating, and we want to hit every school in America. There’s 26,727 of them. We want to go into every one. The kids are silent when they hear we lost somebody to this, and we tell our story and they leave, unequivocally ready to run away from fentanyl…”
With Greg’s pain, he turned it into an advocacy. This takes much strength, but it is a perfect example of perseverance.
#3: A Mother’s Loss
Yhaimar is a nurse and a writer who lost her son unexpectedly in 2024. In her story, she described her life as “a clear ‘before’ and ‘after'” post her son, Gabriel’s, loss. She writes:
“Grief reshapes you. I was still a nurse—but I was also a mother in mourning, learning to survive something that felt impossible. Healing started there. It didn’t come from answers or quick fixes but from learning to treat myself with kindness.
…Hope, for me, doesn’t arrive with fanfare. It’s often quiet—the choice to keep showing up for myself and my family, despite my imperfections. Right now, hope means reaching for a new purpose: health content writing, connecting with those who understand loss, or honoring Gabe’s memory in ways that feel true.
…If you’re walking through the trauma of grief, please know healing may feel like work, because it is. But it’s work that starts with gentleness and self-compassion. Hope doesn’t have to be grand. Sometimes, it’s simply the act of showing up. That is enough. You are not alone.”
Even though Yhaimar experienced a tragic and sudden loss, she still finds hope. May her story inspire you to find hope, even if it is small and brief.
Bakken-Young Can Help
We are here for you through it all, especially when grief is heavy. If you need support, visit our calendar for healing methods that work for you. Remember, grief is different for everyone, and it doesn’t always follow a timeline. While one may never “get over” or fully “heal” from grief, one may learn healthy coping methods and find more peace as they learn to carry their grief through life.
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