There are phases in life that feel impossible to say goodbye to. For me, that phase was losing my dad in 2019. At the time, I don’t think it really sunk in. Grief has a strange way of distorting time, making everything feel both immediate and distant all at once. In those early days, I was still the person I had always been—the person I was before my dad passed—but as the reality of his absence settled in, I started to realize just how much I would change.

Looking back, I see that my entire family has changed. Grief doesn’t just impact one person; it shifts the dynamics of everyone left behind. We all had to find new ways to navigate life without him, and none of us came out of it the same. For me, it took therapy to even begin to process what had happened. I wasn’t coping well, and I needed help to work through emotions that felt too overwhelming to handle alone.

Now, five years later, I can finally say that I’m getting better. Time doesn’t erase grief, but it does soften its sharp edges. Healing isn’t about forgetting; it’s about learning to live with the loss in a way that doesn’t consume you. I still miss my dad every single day, but I’ve also learned that love doesn’t disappear just because someone is no longer physically here. It stays with you, shaping who you become.

Losing him was the hardest goodbye I’ve ever had to say, but I carry him with me in everything I do. And in that way, he’s never really gone.

Daily writing prompt

Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

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