Nobody prepares you for how profoundly losing your partner can change your world.

It's not simply the absence of someone you love, it's the loss of the familiar, the shared routines, the conversations, the plans and the quiet reassurance of knowing someone is there.

Even the smallest decisions can suddenly feel enormous.

Perhaps friends and family expect you to be getting on with life. Perhaps you've become very good at telling everyone you're fine, even when you're not.

And perhaps, somewhere beneath the sadness, there's a little voice asking: "Is this really how the rest of my life is going to be?"

If that sounds familiar, I want you to know something.

Grief changes everything. But it doesn't have to end everything.

There is no timetable for grief. No rulebook. And there is certainly not an expectation that you should forget the person you've lost.

But there can be room for hope alongside your grief.

And sometimes, discovering that possibility, is where a new chapter begins.