Jes Knoop

This post is going to look a little different than my usual ones. Normally, I try and focus on a clear point I want to raise awareness about. But today, I have a different goal. My son is thirteen years old and goes to a normal, public school. He has a lot of friends, gets along well with others. But more importantly, he’s an empath like his mother. He cares deeply about the suffering of others and carries their pain with them whenever he can. He notices the kids that are struggling to...

Why sharing the story matters — and why listening is enough One of the most powerful things a grieving person can do is speak their story out loud. We emphasize the need for a human witness in grief work because at its core, grief is a social experience and thus, must be addressed within a social context. Not because saying it makes it disappear. Not because there is a perfect way to express or resolve grief. But because grief changes shape when it is witnessed. Because relationships are...

Grief is heavy. It presses down on the mind, slows the heart, and dulls the parts of ourselves that once moved freely through the world. It can make our thoughts sluggish, our energy thin, and our sense of self feel strangely compressed. Sometimes grief arrives all at once — a phone call in the night, a diagnosis, a goodbye we never expected to say. A moment that changes the shape of our life in an instant. But grief does not only come through death or sudden loss. Sometimes grief arrives...