Mourning Pages: my month of grief journaling
plus: exciting announcements!
Grief can feel like dragging around an enormous rock tied to your waist, yet for many of us, the instinct is to avoid it altogether. It’s messy, uncomfortable, and inconvenient—no one wants to cry in the middle of a supermarket, party, or workday—so we just drag it around, pretending it’s not there.
But avoidance doesn’t make grief disappear, and one of the best ways I’ve found for processing it is through journaling. As journaling expert Kathleen Adams (who I had the privilege of meeting in November) puts it, my journal is “the friend at the end of my pen” who has been there unflinchingly day in, day out for the last 3+ years. My journal never looks uncomfortable, or doesn’t know what to say. It just accepts my pain and my joy equally, wordlessly, without judgment.
At the beginning of 2024, I felt a creative nudge to birth a journal for mother bereavement, and during December, I brought that vision into the world. The journal—called Mourning Pages, inspired by Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way—takes the journaler on a 28-day journey through their grief, inspired by the phases of the moon.
When I tested the journal myself in December, I felt some resistance to the idea of facing my pain every day on the page. Surprisingly perhaps only to me, it was an incredibly profound and healing process.
Throughout December, I managed to shift sticky feelings and perspectives regarding my mother’s death that I’ve been struggling with deeply for over three years. The journal helped me ease some of the heavy feelings I was having around the holiday season and feel less alone in my grief.
It also gave me something to focus on while everyone else was posting happy family holiday pics, and some strange and magical things happened, too, including:
For the first time since she died, my mum spoke to me in a dream.
My brother—who’s about to become a father—found a pair of baby booties in my parents’ house that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Her Tarot card—the Empress—jumped out of the deck and landed face down on the floor the day I asked her for advice.
(I’ve had a lot of mystical and supernatural experiences since my mum died—things I’m still figuring out how to write about.)
After the first week, I realized some prompts were too heavy, and rewrote almost all of them, aiming to balance deep reflection with gentle support. Now, Mourning Pages offers a mix of resources, reflections, and space for self-compassion—because grief is hard enough without adding unnecessary weight.
Talking about this project hasn’t been easy—there’s vulnerability in putting something so personal into the world, and yes, there’s fear too: What if someone steals the idea? What if it doesn’t resonate?
But testing it myself has shown me how much healing this journal has to offer. Grief is something we all face at some point, and yet it can be one of the most isolating experiences in life. If Mourning Pages can help even one person feel less alone in their loss, it’ll be worth it.
Now, I’m looking for a small group of beta testers to join me in trying Mourning Pages, starting on January 29th. Spaces are limited and some have already been taken, so if you’re interested, comment below or hit reply to this email.
Even if you’re just curious about grief journaling, I hope you’ll follow along as I prepare to release Mourning Pages. I’ll be sharing more about the process, the lessons I’ve learned, and how journaling can be a companion in your grief.
Now, on to the announcements…
announcement #1: Write to Rise
Through romantic breakups, multiple career changes, and my mother’s death, journaling has been one of the most effective tools in my healing toolbox for over a decade. It helps me manage my mental health, rein in my ADHD, and make progress towards my goals.
Following redundancy at the end of last November, in 2025, I’m launching not one but two new businesses—the first is a journaling programme called Write to Rise. While the programme is still in its inception phase (I’m working with a business coach to refine the details), the waitlist is now open for those who are interested.
Write to Rise is for you if you want to:
Work through your roadblocks and reconnect with your inner strength.
Transform pain into growth.
Deepen your relationship with yourself and others.
Gain fresh perspectives on life's challenges.
Reignite your creativity and discover new possibilities.
Find clarity and build the life of your dreams.
Sprinkle a little bit of magic into your daily routine.
Join the waitlist now to be the first to know when the programme launches!
announcement #2: Secret Piemonte
As some of you know, my partner Max is from Piedmont in north-west Italy—arguably one of the country’s best-kept secrets. Stunning scenery, prestigious wines, exquisite food, and the world-famous, super rare white truffle have earned this region the nickname “the new Tuscany”.
Since my first visit in 2017, I’ve had the privilege of experiencing rural Piedmontese life in a way few foreigners get to, falling a little more deeply in love with the place and its people each time.
Now, we’re launching Secret Piemonte to share these treasures with the world. We will be curating unique experiences that allow you to engage with local people—from wine tasting and truffle hunting to Italian cooking lessons—and live la dolce vita, Piedmont-style.
Although the first trip won’t be until 2026, you’re invited to join the waitlist to be the first to know when we launch.
We’ll also be sending out surveys to help build the perfect experience—by joining the waitlist, you’ll have the chance to contribute to designing our first trip!
You can also follow us on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content as we create our first Piedmont experience.
Join the waitlist now to discover Secret Piemonte—before everyone else does.
2025 is shaping up to be a year of huge shifts and transformations for many of us. For me, it feels like a cycle that began seven years ago is finally ending—one that took me to the deepest, darkest depths of my soul through financial hardship, grief, and a crisis of identity. Finally, the stars are aligning for me to rebuild myself and my life.
I hope you’ll join me on this exciting journey!