08/11/2025
Loss breaks our hearts open until they’re barely recognizable.
Everything we thought we knew about our world and ourselves changes in an instant. The pain is staggering and overwhelming.
But to those hearts that are hurting so badly, I offer you this gentle reminder:
The person you lost, the person you are missing: They mattered so deeply.
While they were here, they poured their love into you.
They wrote their story in your heart to give you something to carry with you.
The pain of their absence is a reminder of how much their presence mattered and how much their love mattered.
And while grief means learning to express and share that love differently, it is still within you: so strong and steady.
The person you are has been shaped, in part, by the love you’ve been given. Because they were here and it mattered.
And despite your pain, you are here, and it matters.
The way you carry the love of everyone you’ve lost matters.
The way you continue to pour love into the hearts around you matters. The way, day after day, your hurting heart continues to bring kindness and empathy into the scary unknowns and this uncertain terrain: it matters.
And we may never fully get to understand how much of an impact that love makes, but it is growing and it is taking root in the hearts of everyone whose lives intersect with ours, just as the love we’ve been given has grown so beautifully within us.
It matters.
So, may you take these two simple truths forward with you today:
They were here, and it mattered.
You are here, and it matters.
-Liz Newman
