Fifteen years ago, my life divided into “before” and “after.”
Almost immediately, I turned to words — reading, journaling, and blogging. I began posting here, inviting you into the journey of Creating New Normal. A space where I tried to make sense of a world that no longer made sense.
What began as survival slowly became something else. I heard a whisper: Seek joy again. I listened. And over time I learned that grief does not cancel joy. That love does not disappear when physical form does. That life, somehow, continues to expand around what feels impossible.
Today, on Julian’s 15th Angelversary, I am closing this chapter of writing.
For many years, this space held my grief. It also held my growth. What shouts in me now — fifteen years after the whisper — is this:
- Being a Whole Human includes loss.
- Our capacity to live fully stretches toward joy, even while loss remains part of that lived experience.
- We are meant to be Whole — not because we avoid pain, but because we are capable of holding it alongside joy.
After fifteen years, I am concluding this blog.
I am not finished writing. But the writing has changed.
Below is the opening of my latest reflection, published today on Medium:
You were meant to hold it all.
And live anyway.
Continue reading Realize Wholeness on Medium →
Thank you for walking this chapter with me.
In Joy,
— Emily
creating “new normal” 