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If you're grieving a loved one this holiday season, here's a gift you can give yourself

After losing her almost-4-year-old daughter to epilepsy, Kelly Cervantes created a "grief companion" that meets people wherever they are in their grief journey.

Images courtesy of Kelly Cervantes

Kelly Cervantes wrote her way through grieving the loss of her daughter, Adelaide.

Kelly Cervantes begins the Introduction to her book with five words: "Grief sucks. It's also weird." It's a concise truth that anyone who has lost a loved one knows all too well.

Grief is a universal experience—none of us get through life without loss—but it's also unique to each person. Most of us are familiar with the popular "stages of grief" theory, but denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (along with guilt and a host of things) are less like sequential rungs on a ladder and more like pools you fall into at various times as you stumble your way through the grief process. Grief is not linear and it's not neat and tidy and it's not predictable.

Take it from someone who's been there. Kelly Cervantes lost her daughter, Adelaide, to epilepsy just shy of her 4th birthday. Using writing as a therapeutic tool to help her process Adelaide's medically complex life, death and everything that came after, Kelly created the book she wished she'd had as she was trying to navigate her own grieving process.

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Ballet brought big joy for this courageous 14-year-old battling cancer.

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Peyton had just finished performing in her seventh production of "The Nutcracker" when she started feeling extremely exhausted.

"I had dress rehearsals, dance, cheerleading, and seventh-grade homework, so I thought I was just really tired and sore," Peyton says.

But her mom, Carrie, knew better. "The change literally happened overnight. She lost 10 pounds in three weeks. She went from dancing in 'The Nutcracker' in December to being ridiculously tired in January," Carrie says.

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How performing little acts of kindness is helping grieving parents move forward.

Joanne Cacciatore's daughter, Cheyenne, was stillborn in July 1994. She says it was the worst day of her life.

Photo via Joanne Cacciatore, used with permission.

She briefly held her baby girl in her arms, but that was all the time she'd get with her.

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Do you know what trigger warnings are? These 5 insightful illustrations explain.

Trigger warnings help us gain control over our emotional reactions.

You know the feeling when you're going about your day and you're suddenly struck with a deep pang of emotion?

Something you saw, heard, or witnessed subconsciously took you back to a traumatic event you experienced. That's a trigger.

For some people, these triggers can bring about unpleasant or even harmful emotions.

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Our relationship with our planet can be mutually beneficial if we commit ourselves to sustainability.

Douglas Scott grew up on Washington's Olympic Peninsula in the dying shadow of the timber industry that had supported the region for decades.

The tension in the air between the loggers and the environmentalists throughout the 1980s was thicker than the trees being cut down.

"When I moved away from the area in 1997, there wasn't much of a logging or mill economy in dozens of towns around the region," Scott said.

Those great green arbors continued their gradual recovery into the 2000s...

And they're still going today.

But those isolated moments don't tell the whole story of the region's recovery. It's even more remarkable when you can see it in action...

We don't always notice the world changing right before our eyes, but the decades-long view of the Olympic Peninsula shows the true power of nature.

After losing her almost-4-year-old daughter to epilepsy, Kelly Cervantes created a "grief companion" that meets people wherever they are in their grief journey.

#1: "Moving on" is a fallacy.

Amelia and Manny made clear plans when they got married.

Instead of being a young, happy newlywed, Amelia became a young, grieving widow.

In hopes of helping others, Amelia wrote down eight things she learned about living after loss:

1. "Moving on" is a fallacy. Amelia prefers to call it "moving forward."

2. "Try to remain open to life."

3. Hers is not a "success story."

4. This is a big one: "Release any hostility or jealousy."

5. "It will take longer than you expect."

6. "Only you know what you're really going through."

7. "The right partner will actively keep the memory alive with you."

8. And finally: "You can do this."

As many of us know, life often doesn't go according to plan.

Peyton had just finished performing in her seventh production of "The Nutcracker" when she started feeling extremely exhausted.

That night, the Richardsons found themselves at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, about 20 miles from their hometown of Sugar Land.

"A few months earlier, she literally could not lift her foot an inch above the ground, and here she was dancing across the floor," says Carrie. "Everyone in that room was crying."

Joanne Cacciatore's daughter, Cheyenne, was stillborn in July 1994. She says it was the worst day of her life.

It was then that Cacciatore decided to dedicate her life to helping parents like herself deal with grief.

The Kindness Project asks grieving parents to do good deeds in their communities in memory of a lost child (or parent, friend, or spouse).

There's Kamaria McDonald, who donated toys, baby supplies, and more to a domestic violence shelter in honor of her late-son, Dane.

There's young Mackenzie's mother, who paid for and left two giant stuffed animals for some unsuspecting kids at a Kohl's in memory of her daughter.

A first-grade class in Richmond, California, wrote kind notes to their neighbors in honor of Teddy, a young boy who died of cancer.

Michael's mom donated basketballs to her local community center in honor of her son, who loved to shoot hoops.

And then there's Ann, whose story has stuck with Cacciatore for many years.

The Kindness Project's Facebook page is flooded with incredible stories of giving — from cups of coffee to massive donations.

Trigger warnings help us gain control over our emotional reactions.

You know the feeling when you're going about your day and you're suddenly struck with a deep pang of emotion?

The 2016 presidential election will be triggering for people you know and love and maybe even for you personally.

Whether you feel you need trigger warnings or not, it's important to understand what they are.