Living and growing with grief is not simple or easy, but this guide can help you on your journey. Stephanie Drummond shares her own experience with grief, noting that losing someone will affect every single person differently. Even her siblings reacted to the death of their mother in different ways. While the stages of grief we hear so much about can help us know what we might expect, she notes they are only a guideline and can happen in any order. She also seeks to provide insights such as: • understanding that the ups and downs of loss are not linear, and the “stages of grief” do not necessarily occur in order, • learning there are ways to navigate the winding path back to peace and joy and • that you are not alone in experiencing any of the many emotions. • how to remove guilt and stop blaming yourself after losing a loved one. Drummond also recognizes that although she’s suffered a series of losses, her struggle is not over. She reveals that if you try to skip the many parts of grief, you’ll only make it worse. The only way out is by going through. Learning the value of self-validation, self-forgiveness and self-compassion and most importantly, not comparing your grief to others’ are some of the keys to finding laughter (without the guilt) again.