A Smiling Young Widow

mental-health

Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief

Dec 13, 2025

Grief Advice, Life as a Young Widow, Year 2, Year 3

anxiety, grief, grief anxiety, grieving, healing, loss, love, mental-health, purpose, widow, widowhood

This is the title Claire Bidwell Smith gave to her book, and honestly it rings very true –though of course with the caveat that there really are no linear stages of grief, it is a squiggly messy route through it. As I look back, anxiety was a big theme of year two of my grief.…
You Are Doing This Right

Nov 27, 2025

Grief Advice, Life as a Young Widow, Year 2, Year 3

death, grief, grieving, healing, life, loss, mental-health, self-doubt, self-love, trust, widow, widowhood, young widow

I sat at a table with three people I barely knew, just chatting. We’d been talking about pets when one of them shared, “I’d choose my dog over my husband any day – that’s really all you need in your life”. I had a moment in my head of ohh she assumes I’m divorced like…