Page 27 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2025 - Online Magazine

SENIOR RESOURCES

And while the phrase “everything
happens for a reason” might
ring hollow in the thick of grief
or struggle, there is meaning to
be extracted from hardship. Not
reason, always—but meaning. We
begin to see our own capacity for
empathy, for strength, for patience.
We start to understand what we
truly value. We see more clearly
the kind of people we want to
be—and the kind of people we
want beside us. Life’s lessons
often don’t come easily—they
are learned through challenges,
mistakes, and vulnerability. Grief,
growth, and the process of learning
are intertwined—each teaches
Bravery and courage often come in fully means embracing moments of us something about who we are,
smaller forms of doing the things joy, connection, and meaning, but it what we value, and what we need.
you don’t want to do. Growth isn’t can be hard to do that when grief is Learning is sometimes painful
linear—it sometimes feels like a present. Pushing through difficult but ultimately helps us heal and
series of setbacks. emotions to find moments of progress. Sometimes the greatest
happiness or peace is hard. Making wisdom comes not from books,
Growth while grieving is especially time for lunch with a friend, a but from heartbreak. Not from
disorienting. You’re becoming happy hour with co-workers, or successes, but from survival.
someone new while mourning intentionally carving out time for a
who you were or what you had. date night can be challenging, but The Balance: A Messy, Beautiful
That tension between holding the payoff might be magical. Small Fight
on and letting go can stretch you acts of courage, like stepping out
thin. Some days, growth feels like when it’s easier to stay in, can lead Trying to grow, while trying to
betrayal—like smiling again is to growth. grieve, while trying to live, while
somehow forgetting. But healing trying to learn—it’s not a straight
doesn’t mean forgetting. It means Living isn’t always vibrant or path. It’s circular, tangled, full of
remembering differently. Carrying joyful. It can mean existing in an detours. Some days, one of those
your past, not as a weight, but as a uncomfortable space. Sometimes, aspects might take over. Grief
thread woven into the fabric of who living just means continuing. might flood everything else. Other
you are becoming. Taking the next breath. Washing days, growth steps forward. You
the dishes. Calling a friend back. might even feel hope, or lightness.
Living: The Everyday Battle It’s in those small, steady choices And then the next day, you’re back
that strength is found. We don’t under the weight of it all.
Then there’s the act of just living. give ourselves enough credit for
Showing up to work. Responding that kind of resilience. But maybe that’s okay.
to friends. Making meals. These
simple acts can feel monumental Learning: Lessons from the Fire Maybe we’re not meant to master
when you’re grieving or struggling. this balancing act. Maybe we’re
You might smile in a meeting Pain has a way of teaching us just meant to feel it, fully. To
and cry in your car. You might things we never wanted to learn. give ourselves grace when we’re
laugh at a joke and then feel guilt Lessons about impermanence. exhausted. To celebrate the tiny
immediately after, wondering if About love. About boundaries. victories. To acknowledge the mess.
you’re allowed to be happy while About who shows up—and who To ask for help. To rest.
carrying so much sorrow. doesn’t. These aren’t lessons you Closing Thoughts: Be Gentle with
get in a classroom. They’re earned
There’s tension between simply in the hardest way possible: Yourself
existing and truly living. Living through experience. If you’re in a season where

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