8 Ways The Mighty Has Helped Me Through Grief
Two days before Christmas, my great-grandma Romana passed away after a year of battling dementia and strokes. After her death, I was left heartbroken and shocked.
With all of my pain, I turned to The Mighty, as my Great-grandma Romana loved this community. While in her hospital bed, she would listen to me read the articles written by the many contributors (which I would translate into Spanish for her to understand).
Here are eight ways that The Mighty has helped me through my grief:
1. The Mighty gives me a reason to keep going on the hard days.
Grief is a difficult journey, and sometimes I have days where I just want to stay in bed and cry. But then I log on, see the community and remember that I have to keep going, though the journey may seem long.
2. The Mighty has taught me it’s OK to cry.
I’m the type of person who holds everything in and doesn’t really express my emotions, especially if I feel it could bring others down. But contributors at The Mighty have taught me it’s OK to cry at any moment, and it is all a part of the process…
3. The Mighty Community has shown me I’m not alone.
Seeing other people’s stories about their grieving process shows me that I’m not alone in my journey with grief.
4. The Mighty has allowed me to be OK with my grieving process.
If it wasn’t for The Mighty, I would have never been OK with the grieving process and what it brings to me on a daily basis.
5. The Mighty has given me an outlet to express my feelings about grieving.
If it wasn’t for this community, I would have kept inside all of my emotions about my great-grandma’s passing. But The Mighty has allowed me to set my emotions free.
6. The Mighty has shown me there’s nothing wrong with taking a step back.
I’ve learned it’s OK to take a breath and relax if I need to.
7. The Mighty has given me strength.
The Mighty has given me the strength to handle my grief in a positive way.
8. The Mighty has allowed me to have great memories.
The Mighty has allowed me to have great memories with my great-grandma and for that, I’m thankful.
Being part of The Mighty community has taught me it’s OK to grieve the loss of a loved one, and that I need to take it one day at a time. I’ve learned that with a supportive group of people, you get through anything.
Image via contributor
Tylia L. Flores is a twenty-eight-year-old born with Spastic Cerebral Palsy. Despite her condition that affects her mobility, she does not allow it to affect her will and determination to make a difference in the world. Through her many life challenges and obstacles, she discovered her passion for writing. Tylia’s goal in life is to share her stories with the world. In doing so, she hopes to help others with disabilities realize that they, too, have the potential to make their dreams come true. Tylia is not only an author. She’s a radio show personality and a disability activist. Tylia has written about disability-related topics for Yahoo Life, Your Tango, The Mighty, ReadUnwritten.com, Words Between Coasts Project, Wednesday, Spilwords, and Goble Thrive. Worth Living Among her other appearances are Disability on the Spectrum and Why I was Afraid of Sexuality. Previously, Tylia was nominated to Diversabilities list of the most influential Disability Impacts of 2022. Additionally, Tylia holds the position of chairman in the creative director role for the North American Association Of Cerebral Palsy Advocates. She serves as a mentor for the Disability EmpowHer Network as well. Tylia also works for Write It Up Publishing as a sensitivity reader focusing on disability representation. Tylia has also been involved in many movie press releases for Samuel Goldwyn Films Come as you are Piece of me which was the short film directed and written by award winning filmmaker Bruna Cabral as well as the film adaptation of the book Calvin can’t fly by Jenifer Burnes Tylia is also a keynote speaker at 2020’s Cerebral Palsy Awareness conference. She has also been a guest speaker at Northeastern State University Broken Arrow where she talks to college students about disability and inclusion in education. She has also been a guest speaker at Plantation Middle School, where she discussed inclusion and disability with classmates. Tylia is fully certified in Education for All: Disability, Diversity, and Inclusion through Cape Town University. She’s also certified in Understanding Diversity and Inclusion through Purdue University. She’s also certified in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Tylia hosts the Stomping On cerebral Palsy radio show with DJ Ty on Asheville FM with DJ Mouse during the Come On In the Kitchen segment once a month she also helps the staff behind the scenes, help bring awareness to disability awareness and inclusion within the radio broadcasting industry .
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