Spouses With Dying Partners - How To Be Present

This week's #AskTheTherapist in The New York Times touches something a lot of people carry alone: how to be present with a spouse who is dying. Here's what I told our reader: Grief doesn't wait for the ending. When someone you love is slowly dying, the grieving is already happening — for both of you. The love and the losing are running at the same time. The pattern I see most often isn't fighting. It's silence. Both people already grieving. Neither knowing how to say so. Each carrying it alone. The move isn't to have the perfect conversation. It's to open the door: "I love you so much. I don't want either of us to go through this alone." That single sentence gives you both permission to stop performing "fine" — and that's usually where the real connection starts. 🔗 Read my advice in The New York Times: bit.ly/4aXnEHW ✉️ Submit your question: [email redacted] 🔔 Subscribe to the column: bit.ly/4mZtJaN