Grief is often misunderstood.

We imagine it showing up with obvious cues—tears, funerals, absence.
But more often, grief is invisible.
It hides in high-functioning people who keep showing up, even when their inner world has cracked open.

Grief Isn’t Just About Death

In the therapy room, grief rarely arrives neatly labeled. It sneaks in disguised as burnout. Irritability. Numbness. Perfectionism.

Clients will tell me they’re just “off.”
They’re more exhausted than usual. More reactive. Or strangely indifferent about things they once cared deeply about.

And often, what we uncover beneath the surface is loss—
Not just of people, but of identities, relationships, routines, roles, or entire futures they imagined for themselves.

This is what we call non-death grief. And it’s real.

You might be grieving:

• A relationship that ended without closure
• The person you used to be before trauma
• A job that once defined your worth
• The version of adulthood you thought you'd be living by now
• Friendships that slowly faded as you grew
• The years you spent in survival mode

We grieve when our internal world no longer matches our external reality.
We grieve when we realize we’ve outgrown parts of ourselves.
We grieve when we know something is gone—and it’s not coming back in the same way.

But no one teaches us how to grieve those losses.

High Performers Don’t “Look” Like They’re Grieving

Let’s name it: if you’re someone who’s used to keeping it together—grief can feel like failure.

Many of my clients are thoughtful, intelligent, emotionally attuned people. They’re the ones others rely on. The ones who’ve made careers out of being composed, responsive, capable.

So when grief hits, they don’t always say they feel sad or cry.

They:

• Over-intellectualize
• Power through
• Throw themselves into work or caretaking
• Keep things “normal” on the surface

But deep down, the rupture has happened.

And the truth is, you can’t out-achieve grief. You can’t bypass it with busy-ness or bury it in logic. Eventually, it will come knocking—through your body, your dreams, your irritability, your inability to connect the way you used to.

Grief demands to be felt. Not fixed.

What Happens When You Don’t Name It

When grief goes unnamed, it starts to calcify.
It turns into:

• Anxiety you can’t explain
• Emotional reactivity that feels out of character
• Disconnection from your purpose
• A gnawing sense of dissatisfaction, even when things are “good”
• Self-judgment that says: What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I just get over it?

But you’re not broken. You’re grieving.

Grief is not a linear process. It isn’t something to “get through” in five neat stages. It’s a series of emotional waves—some gentle, some tidal—that ask for your attention.

And if we ignore those waves, we risk drifting further from ourselves.

What Grief Work in Therapy Looks Like

At Live Inspired Wellness, we hold grief gently and without a timeline.

We don’t pathologize your pain.
We don’t rush your healing.
We create space for the feelings that didn’t feel safe to feel before.

Grief therapy isn't about “getting over it.”
It’s about integrating the loss, making meaning, and finding your way back to wholeness.

We explore:

• The story you tell yourself about your loss
• The parts of your identity that feel shaken
• The emotions you've buried to keep going
• The rituals, relationships, or beliefs that can hold you as you navigate this new landscape

It’s tender work. And it’s transformational to witness.

Because when we move through grief instead of away from it, something opens up: a deeper capacity for connection, authenticity, and presence.

You Don’t Have to Hold It All Together Here

If you’re reading this and quietly nodding, you’re not alone.

Grief doesn’t always scream. Sometimes, it whispers in the quiet moments—the empty bed, the calendar you no longer need to update, the silence after a goodbye you never wanted.

You don’t have to be falling apart to seek support.
You just have to be honest with yourself that something in you is aching.

At Live Inspired Wellness, we walk with you in that ache.

Not with quick fixes, but with compassion, curiosity, and care.
Whether you’re grieving a death, a dream, or a part of yourself that feels lost—we’re here for all of it.

You’re allowed to come undone.
You’re allowed to rebuild.

And most importantly, you’re allowed to grieve in your own way.‍

Grief therapy in Ontario—available online and in-person in Uxbridge.

Book a free discovery call with a therapist who understands the layers beneath your grief.

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What part of your story are you still grieving… even if you’ve never said it out loud?

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Elaine Dickens, MA, RP

Founder | Live Inspired Wellness#RISEwithLiveInspired

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Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash