All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.
-Earl Nightengale
The grief journey is long and trying. To make things more difficult, grief doesn’t come with a manual. Each griever needs to find their own way and discover their own plan to move through their experience. Figuring out your plan may be the hardest part. Once you have that plan, you can develop a map for how you want to get from loss to thriving. The plan does not promise to be easy, nor does it ensure that difficulty won’t visit you again. Maintaining that plan, sticking to your goals, and pressing forward when you encounter resistance from surrounding grief supporters are trials for you to overcome down the road. These all require courage, persistence, and faith in yourself that you can and will achieve your goal.
The plan takes time to develop. Let it come as it needs to. Readjust your plan when you need, especially to maintain mental and physical health. Call up whatever courage you can, and know that courage will ebb and flow every day. Regardless of how much courage you have today, use it all. Use all the courage you have tomorrow and the next day. Walk your plan, follow your map, and move, however slowly, toward your goal. You can do this.
A.N.Carroll 