At some point in our lives, we all face moments where our efforts don’t yield the outcomes we so deeply desired. Maybe you poured yourself into a career, invested your heart into a relationship, dreamed of a specific outcome in pregnancy, or even hoped for change in a cultural or political sphere. Despite our best efforts and intentions, sometimes things simply don’t go our way.

When life unfolds this way, we’re left with two options: to resist what is, or to accept the reality in front of us. Acceptance, however, doesn’t mean suppressing our pain; it means acknowledging the loss of our envisioned outcome and allowing ourselves to feel grief. Grieving what "could have been" helps us honor our efforts, dreams, and hopes rather than bury them away.

A Safe Place to Land

Now that you are on the other side of your experience. Now that it's over. Now that you're done. You can move on and get back to normal life just like it never happened. You can go back to work on Monday. At least that is what the vast majority of women are trying to do. Women are going on with their lives as if nothing happened. Yet the feelings of grief, fear, acceptance, regret, relief, keep surfacing, and women keep shoving the feelings back down so no one can see them as they smile and go back to normal life.