When You Don’t Recognize Yourself Anymore

There’s a quiet moment that sneaks up on you in grief.

It isn’t the anniversaries.
It isn’t the holidays.
It isn’t the predictable ache of a date circled on the calendar.

It’s subtler than that.

It’s catching your reflection and thinking, Who is this?

It’s realizing you don’t react the way you used to.
That your tolerance has shifted.
That your energy feels different in your own body.