If the holidays feel heavier this year, you’re not alone. Grief doesn’t follow the calendar. It doesn’t pause for celebrations or wait until January to “hurt less.” Holidays amplify emotion because they shine a light on what we’ve loved, what we’ve lost, and what has shifted in our lives. If this season feels tender, your experience makes sense—and you deserve compassion, not pressure.

Birth is often slow, full of effort and pain. So is death. While some pass suddenly, many experience a gradual release—a labor of the soul that prepares us for departure. In both, there is vulnerability, care, and transformation.