After years of dealing with the pain of losing my daughter, I find myself falling into the common coping mechanism of avoidance. It can take many forms; throwing myself into my work, finding projects to keep me busy, binge watching old favorites on Netflix; anything to distract myself from the painful thoughts and feelings of my grief. The problem with this is that eventually, the feelings refuse to be ignored. They begin to show up in physical ways like insomnia, nightmares, and exhaustion. Then I realize that my avoidance isn’t really a solution at all. Once again I must face my pain and continue working through my grief.