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out of new Zealand during my free time on nights and weekends.<br />

I sold that. Then I started looking for more to do.<br />

All those things are good things. I'm proud of them! But<br />

at some point you need to be able to sit back, relax, do less,<br />

and be completely content with yourself because if you don't,<br />

you'll burn out since that's too much pressure for anyone to<br />

place on themselves. It took me nearly twenty years to realize<br />

that I was doing these things because of the imperceptible<br />

influence of the ongoing grief associated with my mom's<br />

death. I was trying to live a meaningful life since my mom's<br />

life was cut short, and I wasn't going to die without making<br />

mine remarkable. I've felt that way since I was ten years old<br />

but couldn't really put it into words until now.<br />

Interminable - pretty much everyone on this thread has<br />

said it, including myself, but I'll say it again. The grief will<br />

not go away entirely. It will become much more manageable<br />

with time and with effort. expect that the grief will disappear<br />

and reappear throughout your life. That's the natural state of<br />

things. People are meant to form close bonds with one another<br />

and have loving relationships. We're built for it whether<br />

you want to call it a divine gift or biological evolution. So<br />

along with love, you should expect grief. It's a part of the human<br />

condition.<br />

For me, I've gone through two distinct periods of intense<br />

grieving at the loss of my mom. The first period took place<br />

when I was ten to twelve years old. The change it created<br />

made my life better. I grew closer with my older brothers, and<br />

today they are my best friends, I succeeded in school, sports,<br />

and having a social life and that led me to loving my time in<br />

high school and college. I've been very fortunate with my career<br />

at this point having worked for a handful of great companies.<br />

I've been able to travel and do some epic things like run<br />

a marathon in Florence, Italy and a fifty mile ultra marathon<br />

most recently.<br />

About a year ago, I entered the second stage of grieving<br />

(and it wasn't easy!) but I approached it aggressively and constructively<br />

and it's already starting to produce returns. I'm<br />

now living in my own place and more comfortable being by<br />

myself than I've ever been. I'm developing a more grounded<br />

approach to life in that I don't feel as pressured to always be<br />

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