Page 26 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2025 - Online Magazine

SENIOR RESOURCES

The Struggle of Growth,

Grief, Living, and Learning:

NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF LIFE

by Steve Vecchio

than we expect. It’s not just about
death—it’s the loss of relationships,
of places, of versions of ourselves we
once knew. It lives in quiet moments
and loud silences, creeping into
conversations and following us into
dreams.
The hardest part of grief isn’t just
missing someone or something—it’s
the way it distorts time. Days blur.
The past feels close. The future,
uncertain. And in the middle of that
fog, the world doesn’t stop. You’re
still expected to get out of bed. To
reply to emails and perform at work.
To be “okay.” But you’re not. You’re
surviving. And that, in itself, is a
quiet act of courage.

Growth: Becoming While Breaking
here are seasons in life when desire to perform professionally.
everything feels like too much. Many times, I was left feeling like I We love the idea of growth.
TYou’re trying to grow into who was failing at all three. All the while, It’s packaged as beautiful and
you’re becoming, trying to grieve personal growth and happiness empowering. But real growth? It’s
what or whom you’ve lost, trying to seemed unavailable to me, pushed to gritty. It happens in the dark. It
live day to day, and trying to learn the sideline and just out of reach. happens in those messy, tear-stained,
how to survive it all. And somehow, late-night moments where you’re
it all happens at once. Not neatly. Many people live with this kind of questioning everything. It’s not
Not patiently. Just layered and loud. emotional multitasking every day. always a phoenix rising—it’s often
No manuals exist for how to grieve just a person crawling forward.
For me, it’s been an extended and grow at the same time. No step-
season of loss and uncertainty. Life by-step guide on how to keep living Personal growth—whether it’s
changes. Waves of it, culminating when the world inside you feels emotional, intellectual, or physical—
in the loss of my father, followed paused, or how to learn from pain requires effort, vulnerability, and
by my grandmother a few weeks that is still too fresh. Yet we try. We introspection. Grief can act as both
later. It wasn’t supposed to happen show up, even if we’re limping. And a barrier and a catalyst for growth.
this way, so soon. Pressure to “keep maybe that’s where the real strength Sometimes it’s through the hardest
it together,” be strong for others, lies. moments that we learn the most
and perform professionally loomed about ourselves. Getting back up
large. Responsibilities as a single Grief: The Uninvited Companion when you’ve been knocked off your
father, combined with the need to Grief doesn’t knock politely. It barges feet. Pushing through when you
be available for my grieving mother in, uninvited, and stays far longer feel like you can’t take another step.
and family, often clashed with my

26 Lubbock Senior Link