By JANIE LACY MENTAL WELLNESS Florida, USA - Grief doesn’t ask for permission. It doesn’t wait until you’re ready. It arrives without warning and reshapes everything you thought you knew about yourself, your world, and what it means to love someone deeply. I know this not just as a clinician — I know it as a woman who lost her best friend. Her name was Brenda March. And if you had the privilege of knowing her, you already understand why her absence leaves a silence that words struggle to fill. Brenda was the kind of woman who made you feel seen. Fully seen. Not the version of you that showed up polished and put together, but the real you — the one who called her at midnight, the one who laughed too loud, the one who needed someone to just be there. She was that person for me. She was irreplaceable. Losing Brenda reminded me of something I tell my clients but had to live through myself: grief is not a problem to be solved. It is love with nowhere to go. And that distinction matters deeply. In our culture, we are often encouraged to “move on,” to “stay strong,” to get back to normal as quickly as possible. But grief is not a detour from living — it is part of living. When someone who has been woven into the fabric of your daily life is suddenly gone, the threads don’t just disappear. They remain. And learning to carry them is the real work of healing. Here is what I want you to know if you are walking through the valley of loss right now: Your grief is not weakness. It is evidence of love. The depth of your sorrow is directly proportional to the...... Read more on Full Issue!