Don’t Die with the Dead

A reflection by Casey Cole Corbin

🕊️ Grief Is Real. But So Is the Choice to Rise.

There’s an image I want to share with you. A painting I call:
“Don’t Die with the Dead.”

It’s raw. Honest. Uncomfortable.

A man kneels—naked, exposed—at the edge of a grave.
His head is bowed, pressed against the remains of what he’s lost.

It’s grief in its purest form.
But it’s also a crossroad.

Will I Stay Stuck in My Old Life… Without Them?

When we lose someone—or something—that once defined us, everything changes.
The routines. The identity. The sense of who we were in that relationship—gone.

I had 20 good years in that role. In that love. In that chapter.
But now, that chapter has ended. And what used to give my life structure no longer exists.

I could try to keep living in those old modes, pretending nothing changed.
But that’s not healing. That’s being stuck.

Grief is meant to be honored.
But not lived in forever.

This Is a Total Life Shift

This kind of loss affects everything.
No part of life stays untouched.

But here’s the most powerful truth I’ve come to embrace:

I get to choose who I become now.

Not as a return to the past.
But as a bold step into what’s next.

And that’s what this painting represents:
The moment where we decide not to go down into the ground with what’s been lost…
But to rise, slowly and purposefully, into something new, leaving and grieving that part of us down in the ground with them, too.

🌱 So, Who Do You Want to Be Now?

Grief strips away illusions.
It shows us what we clung to.
It reveals what was fragile.
And it cracks us wide open.

But what comes next—that’s up to you.

And you don’t have to guess.
You don’t have to wander.
You can choose the next version of you with clarity and confidence.

🔥 Ready to Decide What Comes Next?

If you’re standing in that post-loss wilderness, I’ve built something just for you:

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It’s time.
Don’t stay buried.
Don’t live as a ghost in your own life.

Final Word

Loss is inevitable.
Staying stuck is not.

You were made for more than survival.
You were made for becoming.

So breathe.
Stand up.
And let’s take that next step together.

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