When Joy and Grief Coexist: Navigating Loss Through Life’s Brightest Moments

There’s a strange duality in life that no one really prepares you for — the way grief can wrap itself around even the happiest milestones. It’s something I’ve come to understand more deeply in recent months, as I’ve celebrated new beginnings while quietly mourning what’s been lost.

Grief doesn’t pause for celebrations. It doesn’t respect calendars or milestones. Instead, it follows you, softening and reshaping, showing up as tears during toasts or an empty seat at the dinner table.

What I’ve learned is that grief and joy are not opposites. They are companions. They remind us of the depth of our love and the weight of our losses. They teach us how to hold space for all our feelings — the radiant and the raw — without shame.

So if you’re going through a joyful change and find yourself unexpectedly grieving, know this: you are not broken. You are not ungrateful. You are human.

And there is grace in feeling both.