Meet the Author

By: Betty Dangler
Monday, March 18, 2019

“Grief is not something you get over or need to move on from. The depth of grief measures the height of love.”


As I was reading one of the magazines for Funeral Directors, I came across this article about a book called, “Grief Day by Day” by author, Jan Warner.  This book was a result of the author dealing with her own husband’s death in 2009.  She shares similar insights and thoughts about grief that are similar to those insights in our Grief Recovery Program.


The author felt that if she was to choose life, then she needed to figure out how to be fully alive with her grief. She realized that you never stop mourning the loved one you have lost. She needed to find a way to deal with her grief.  She wanted to have her husband’s life matter more than his death. So she started a blog. She now has more than 2.5 million likes around the world. As a result of her blog and the response from her readers, the book, Grief Day by Day, was born.


The book does not offer steps on how to get over your grief. You will always feel the loss of your loved one. The book is a compilation of reflections and themes about grief from her own experiences and those of her readers as well as quotes to ponder.


She understands that there is no timeline, no one way to grieve and that everyone handles loss differently.  So there is no definite way to read this book.  She suggests do what you feel comfortable. You can read it from cover to cover or you can pick a particular theme each day that speaks to you. There are 52 themes for each week of the year.
Warner believes that “life triumphs over death, if we let it”.


My reason for writing about this book in my blog is to let you know that you can also deal with your grief day by day. You can start by writing in your own journal about your feelings and how you are dealing with the loss of your loved one.  If you put your thoughts on paper, it helps to get them out of your head, relieve the pressure of a heavy heart and starts the healing process.  I can speak from experience. When my husband, Jim, died I started my own journal and it definitely helped me to focus on his life and what I learned from him rather than on his death. It is from his life, not his death, that I get my inspiration. See if that works for you too.

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