Grief In Six Words: A New Site by WYG
/ Creative Coping : Litsa Williams
If you're a long-time WYG grief-friend, you know that Eleanor and I looooove six-word stories. Why? Well, because we love creative expression as a tool for coping with grief. Writing, of course, is one of those creative tools. We also know from many years of working with grievers and hanging out here with all of you that not everyone fancies him/herself a writer and that writing can feel really daunting in grief. But when all you have to do is muster six words, it can feel a little more manageable.
Now, in case you have never heard of a six-word story, here is the deal: A (contested) rumor has it that way back when, Ernest Hemingway was out with some friends who challenged him to write a short story in just six words. He took them up on it and wrote the following story:
"For sale, baby shoes, never worn."
Ernest Hemingway
This sparked a movement of people inspired to write their own six-word stories, six-word memoirs, etc.
A while back, Eleanor wrote a post with a six-word grief journaling exercise and, when we shared it on Facebook, we were overwhelmed by the hundreds of responses that rolled in over the course of just a couple days. It seemed a tragedy that they would be lost in the history of our Facebook comments, so we wrote another post sharing some of the submissions. When we shared that post, people responded with hundreds more incredible six-word grief stories... which we were again sad would be lost in the comments of our blog and Facebook. So we did the only logical thing there was to do: We started a new website! Obviously.
That brings us to today: The official ribbon cutting for GriefInSixWords.com
Now, if you follow us on social media (which you should, just sayin'), you may be a little confused because we have been talking about Grief In Six Words on Facebook and Instagram for a while now. We encouraged our grief-friends to go take the site for a test-drive with some six-word challenges, to help us get it running smoothly. Major thanks to those of you who helped. After all, we are griefy-mental health gals, not web developers, so we needed all the help we could get!
Today, whether you're hearing about it for the first time or if you knew about it already, we invite you to head on over to Grief In Six Words. While you're there, we hope you'll read the stories that got the site going. Though our early site testers faced some technological glitches, we were still left speechless by the powerful six-words stories that rolled in. We hope you'll like them and share them, if you feel inclined. We hope you'll consider sharing your own six-word grief story. Just so you know, none of the stories shared in the comments of past WYG six-word posts were moved to the new site, so feel free to share a story there that you have already shared with us. Or, share a brand new six-grief story. Or both! There are no rules here (well, except that whole six-word rule).
Stay tuned in the future on the blog and social media, because we will continue doing six-word story challenges. We've already done one for Children's Grief Awareness Day and for Valentine's Day.
Still a little confused about this whole grief in six-words thing? Below are some amazing examples:
Hopefully you are feeling a bit inspired to write your own six-word grief story or to read some more stories. If so, head over to griefinsixwords.com.
Oh wait, don't forget to subscribe to get all our new posts right to your inbox first.
We wrote a book!
After writing online articles for What’s Your Grief
for over a decade, we finally wrote a tangible,
real-life book!
What’s Your Grief? Lists to Help you Through Any Loss is for people experiencing any type of loss. This book discusses some of the most common grief experiences and breaks down psychological concepts to help you understand your thoughts and emotions. It also shares useful coping tools, and helps the reader reflect on their unique relationship with grief and loss.
You can find What’s Your Grief? Lists to Help you Through Any Loss wherever you buy books:
Beth Ann September 1, 2023 at 6:07 pm
“I’m not going to die mommy!”
Bob Bowdoin March 8, 2023 at 8:01 pm
Once dark but there is sunlight
Lori DeBlieux January 26, 2023 at 10:04 pm
Living without you is killing me
Kathleen M Vaudo June 26, 2021 at 4:36 pm
My son my friend my heart
Kathleen M Vaudo June 19, 2021 at 1:25 pm
My son her father our loss
Kathleen June 19, 2021 at 12:20 pm
Another Father’s Day without her father.
Michelle January 26, 2021 at 8:54 am
Trauma took away my happy memories.
Anita Sachs January 12, 2021 at 9:00 am
I hate my life without you
Lisa January 3, 2021 at 8:39 pm
Another year to live…….without you.
Ann May 22, 2020 at 11:18 am
I didn’t know. Damn pill mills…
Mirela December 26, 2019 at 9:00 pm
I stopped living when you did
DeAnn December 23, 2019 at 11:47 pm
My daughter died, I’m changed forever
Allison May 1, 2019 at 8:42 am
That color means do not resuscitate.
James December 27, 2018 at 12:24 pm
“Family of four, now only three”
Kim November 15, 2018 at 5:36 pm
My baby deserved to live longer.
Yen November 3, 2018 at 9:46 am
6 words
“Parents gone forever I am orphaned”
Mari October 8, 2018 at 11:09 am
He is always with me.
Spirit comforts me
Caryl Dow July 15, 2018 at 9:37 pm
why are they all so sad?
v July 6, 2018 at 12:44 pm
I want you back so bad. Please, please come back to us.
liz January 14, 2018 at 2:34 am
Saturday, may 27, 2017, 9:23 AM
liz January 14, 2018 at 2:34 am
Saturday, may 27, 2017, 9:23 AM
D June 12, 2017 at 10:19 am
That life ended with your choice
Jill June 2, 2017 at 7:54 am
My ray of sunshine is gone.
Donna Galanti December 12, 2016 at 11:14 am
Who am I without my mother?
Mellissa November 28, 2016 at 11:45 pm
Everything changed in only one minute
Linda November 8, 2016 at 7:57 am
No more suffering, Thank You Lord
gloria October 24, 2016 at 3:26 am
I will always hate Monday mornings.
Tays Mom October 25, 2017 at 10:51 pm
I know how you feel. It’s a Monday/Tuesday for me! Much Love to you mama
suzy October 12, 2016 at 6:33 pm
I hate heroin it took Kevin
Cathy October 11, 2016 at 10:28 pm
Please let there be an afterlife.
Suzy October 7, 2016 at 5:43 pm
Kevin you could have called me
Andrea October 7, 2016 at 4:31 pm
Missing: Giggles, squeals, sticky kisses –joy.
Cheryl October 6, 2016 at 6:29 am
Still hearing you in our home.
Sherene October 6, 2016 at 12:14 am
Tragic. Unexpected. Beautiful. Soul. Lost. Future.
Gary October 5, 2016 at 10:15 pm
Takes a licking, keeps on ticking.
Millie October 5, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Navy Chaplain arrived on Christmas Eve.
Kelly Frasier October 5, 2016 at 7:12 pm
We blew each other kisses good-bye.
Kelly October 5, 2016 at 7:20 pm
Tomorrow is my dad’s second angelversary. I just wanted to honor him here. In a few more than six words, I wanted to add that my father was a giver, he gave until the moment he died. In six words….Daddy gave us all of himself!
Susan October 5, 2016 at 3:16 pm
it happened and I’m still here
Suzie October 5, 2016 at 3:04 pm
Life will never be the same.
Richard October 5, 2016 at 2:26 pm
This could become the one poster I put on my wall. Beautiful expressions birthed by sorrow. Thanks to all of your sharing.
Andrea October 5, 2016 at 1:47 pm
One day my world forever changed
Tanya October 5, 2016 at 12:40 pm
My world changed with one breath.
Sandy Frankel October 5, 2016 at 11:55 am
Thank you. I hang on to every post by WYG. Mine: “I want to donate his organs”
“I signed the DNR order”. ‘I didn’t get to say goodbye”
Jeanette Winkelman October 5, 2016 at 10:10 am
I was blessed to have him
Andrea Madsen October 5, 2016 at 10:06 am
Wow- I just wrote two. Who would have thought that writing 6 words could be so powerful! Thank you-
Jude Hersey October 5, 2016 at 9:35 am
My sun and moon are gone!
Orvel Griffith October 5, 2016 at 9:01 am
My six words ” The last words, Orvel help,nevermore.