Dealing with Grief and Fears

The Silver Agony Aunt responds to these question: “How do you make sure assisted living is the best possible option for a loved one, and how can you overcome feeling regret over some decisions, even though you did the best you could at the time?”

At the end of every year, when my “valversary” rolls around, I’m grateful all over again. I had open-heart surgery for a mitral valve repair in December 2014, and the gratitude for good health ever since drives me to “pay it forward.” We all know the vast time…

Two of the most powerful emotions we can experience are love and fear. They shape our choices, energy, stress levels, relationships and long-term health. Fear protects us and helps us to avoid pain and uncertainty. Love, on the other hand, opens…

After my husband died, I moved into a condo to pursue my new life. I recently threw a housewarming party to which 50 people from different parts of my acquaintance came. I hugged each one, offered a drink, and ran off to welcome the next one…

My son died unexpectedly in December of 2018. After the flurry of activity and visitors surrounding his funeral service, I found myself alone in the house we had so joyfully shared. I was still in the throes of trauma, not capable of deciding or doing much. It was the dead of…

Some call it “the happiest time of the year,” but it can feel like jingle hell for others. The holiday season has always been a time of joy and celebration, when families come together to share laughter, love, and create lasting memories. But for those who have lost a…

I don’t know about you, but somewhere along my life’s journey, I picked up and carried with me a belief that I needed to be able to rely solely on myself. And somewhere along my path, that message morphed into an even more warped version of itself as if it stood…

There are two kinds of losses in this life: clear loss, such as the death of a loved one where there is a body, and ambiguous loss, where the person is there – but not there. Examples of ambiguous loss can be divorce, mental illness, dementia, addiction…

I want to change some habits, but then again, I don’t. I set out to change my exercise routine many times over the years. I have the best of intentions. I try getting up early, walking when the weather is nice, lifting a few weights throughout the day…

A week has crawled by since we made it home after Hurricane Milton. Until this year, I considered myself storm-seasoned, living 35 years in Florida and most of it on the coast. I researched local history and published my first novel this year about…