Adoptee Grief Companion Worksheet

It Was Yours (Grief Companion)

Grief doesn’t require what you lost to be good. It only requires that it was yours.

This short companion is for anyone grieving something that doesn’t fit the clean version: an estranged parent, a birth family you never knew, a version of a relationship that was never safe but was still real. Most grief scripts assume the lost thing was good. When what you lost was harmful, or complicated, or something you’re relieved to be free of and still ache over, there’s usually no script at all, just silence.

Inside, you’ll find why this particular grief gets denied, a list of what you’re actually allowed to grieve (wider than you probably think), and three guided reflections: naming what was yours without qualifying it, pushing back on what you’ve been told about it, and finding the smaller, specific thing you actually miss underneath the loss.

This isn’t therapy. It’s a place to sit with the idea for a while.

A short, honest companion for grief that doesn’t have a clean name yet.