Who I am.

I write about the landscape of grief, nature, and the wisdom of fools. The author of four books, my essays, poems, and reviews have been published in over 50 journals, including in the Huffington Post and Colorado Review. I’ve won the River Teeth Nonfiction Book Award, the Chautauqua and Literal Latte’s essay prizes, and my work has been nominated for four Pushcart Prizes and named a notable by Best American Essays. My account of hiking in Yosemite to deal with my wife’s death, Mountains of Light, was published by the University of Nebraska Press. http://www.markliebenow.com.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Taking Grief Out For a Spin

Verbalizing Trauma

I confess, I’m task-oriented. I get a thrill when I accomplish a lot of work, thinking that the more tasks I finish, the more successful and happy I will be. Working validates my existence.

Or I used to feel this way. Now, not so much. I’ve come to see that tasks are empty boxes if they don’t directly help others. My wife’s death made this clear. There is never an end to the number of tasks that need to be done, but people don’t live forever.

* If you would like to read the rest of this post, let me know and I’ll send it to you. *


2 comments:

  1. I feel like its a sign that I read this post tonight because I was just in my kitchen a little while ago thinking that I don't spend enough time with my loved ones. I do too much blogging and housework and not enough quality relationship building time with any of my kids or my husband. I got to thinking about how when I am dying, I am not going to wish I had more time to blog. I am going to wish I had more time with my family . And then I read this post and its just like the extra little kick I need to start getting my priorities straightened out.

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    1. There are so many interesting things we can do each day, and many of them are good and worthwhile. That's the problem for me. I'm curious about so much. But I realize that I can't do everything I want, and to just to start in each day on one of them ultimately isn't that affirming. As you say, it helps to get our priorities straightened out.

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