The Grief No One Talks About in Life Transitions

Maybe you've felt unexpectedly heavy when a longtime friendship naturally faded, or found yourself grieving while finally leaving a job that wasn't serving you. Most of us expect to grieve death or divorce, yet many don't anticipate the grief that comes with outgrowing previous versions of ourselves. These experiences fall under what Dr. Pauline Boss calls ambiguous loss—losses that lack clear closure or established rituals to help us mourn.