Josh's Weekly Insights - November 5, 2025

“Grief is like the ocean; it comes in waves; ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim.”

-Vicki Harrison

When I think about loss, there are a lot of days where you can feel like the protagonist in a movie or tv show when they are getting tossed about by the water. The scenes where they get pulled under and are fighting to catch their breath. The only big difference is that we know they will make it because they are the hero of their story. However, in real life it can feel more suffocating without knowing that it will be better soon.

Grief and loss are brutal like that. You are moving along feeling fine and then something triggers a memory of the loved one you lost. Then all you can do is get hit by a tidal wave of emotions, shedding tears that seemingly came out of nowhere. It isn’t something you can fight,

and it isn’t something that will ever truly disappear because you will always have love for that person in your heart.

To be honest though, I don’t think hoping it will stop hurting is something to strive for. The pain we feel for someone we lose is caused by our fondness and love for that person. We know they mattered in our lives because we hurt when they are gone. The hole left by their absence will never be filled so there will always be moments where that pain can drag us back down. But the hope is that we learn to live with that pain instead of fighting it. Accept it as the balance to the joy from all the moments you got to spend with that person. Remember those moments fondly even if it does hurt to know that we won’t get more of them with that person.

My encouragement for the week is to think about why we miss a loved one and then ask yourself: Can I create more of what I miss about them in the world with the people I care about? If you can do that, then I think you have found a wonderful way to honor their memory. It won’t take away the pain, but you can share some of their light with others causing their memory to live on.

Now get out there and crush your week!