So, this is my personal blog about travel and adventure. Well, this is a personal story. I’ll spare you all the sad details, but in November of 2014, I lost my baby sister in a car accident – she was 19. It was tragic and devastating for my family, but as the saying goes, life goes on. Everyone deals with grief differently. For me, well you’ve heard the story. I quit my job in October 2015 and was hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in New Zealand on the one-year anniversary of my sister’s passing. I believe that travel can help people cope with grief and here’s why.
Remembering the Good Times
Growing up my family did a lot of camping, hiking, exploring, you name it. Spending time outside and enjoying nature has me remembering the good times. Go someplace you usually would visit together, partake in an activity you both enjoyed, and remember the good times you spent with your loved one. I like to visit restaurants I used to frequent with my sister, hike trails I used to hike with her or camp places we used to visit together. I can’t explain it, but it helps me feel closer to her.
Fulfilling a Bucket List
Perhaps your loved one left one behind. I will never know exactly what was on my sister’s bucket list, but I have a feeling it would be filled with a lot of traveling and fun adventures. Each time you visit a new destination, take a momentum of your loved with you – like a trinket or a photo. Yes, they are not physically there, but because of your love, you know you are never truly alone. I believe each new destination I visit is helping my sister fulfill her bucket list and honoring her memory.
New Memories
Whether we like it or not, life goes on. The days pass, the years pass. I know my sister would not want me to sit there and dwell on the past. She would want me to get out there and create new memories. Whether that is taking your first solo trip and backpacking through a country for 8-weeks or going on a weekend trip to New York with some of your besties. Creating new memories is just as important and remembering the old ones.
Sharing Their Legacy
I want everyone to know the legacy of my sister. Whether that’s telling a stranger I met about her or writing her name in the sand for everyone who walks on the beach to see. I find comfort in knowing that I am spreading the memory of my sister all over the world and keeping her legacy alive.
We all deal with grief differently, and that’s okay. I hope you can find some peace during this difficult time. Also, I don’t think we ever stop grieving, so really it’s about how we live with it.
What is your favorite memory of a lost loved one? Tell someone. You can tell me, tell a friend or write it out in the sand on a beach in a far away land.
Until next time…..
Love ❤
Keelie
Adventures and Life with Keelie 