Grieving While Leading:The Inner & Outer Expression of Loss in Business
Grieving While Leading: The Inner & Outer Expression of Loss in Business
Let’s get honest.
Running a business while grieving is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do.
Because grief doesn’t pause for launch dates.
It doesn’t respect your client calendar or email sequences.
It doesn’t care if you’ve just hired help, landed your biggest collaboration, or mapped out your next quarter.
Grief comes when it comes.
And as an entrepreneur, you may not always know how to meet it.
Grief is the internal experience—the emotional, mental, and even physical processing that happens after a loss.
Mourning is the outward expression of that grief.
And in business?
Most of us are grieving something, silently, behind the scenes…
But few of us are mourning—because the world rarely gives us permission to.
Grief in business doesn’t just come from death.
It also comes from:
Losing a version of yourself you once loved
Shutting down an offer that used to light you up
Ending a working relationship, a business partnership, a community
Experiencing burnout and realizing you can't do what you used to
Feeling disconnected from your purpose, vision, or audience
Watching a peer succeed while you’re in free fall
Navigating parenthood, caregiving, chronic illness—or simply change—while holding up your business
You don’t have to “justify” your grief.
You just have to honor it.
The complexity of grieving as a business owner:
You can feel intense sadness and show up for a client session with presence.
You can experience joy and guilt in the same breath.
You can lose someone you loved deeply—or someone who hurt you—and still feel the weight of what’s been lost.
You can grieve something no one else even knows you lost.
This is the quiet duality of grieving entrepreneurs:
Still showing up while falling apart.
Still holding others while wondering who will hold them.
Still creating, posting, coaching—while mourning.
And what about mourning?
That’s the part that’s even trickier in business.
Mourning is what we show—the rituals, the symbols, the language that tells the world,
“I’m in it right now. Please tread gently.”
But the business world doesn’t make much room for mourning.
There are no black veils or armbands.
No culturally accepted timeline.
No guidebook that says, “Here’s how to grieve when your life is also your brand.”
So most of us push through.
We collapse grief into silence.
We keep it invisible.
And inside, we feel disconnected, resentful, or just… empty.
Let’s bring humanity back into how we lead.
If you’re grieving and still showing up in your business:
🌿 You’re not weak
🌿 You’re not behind
🌿 You’re not doing it wrong
You’re just being honest.
And it’s okay if the way you show up needs to shift.
It’s okay if you need to pause.
It’s okay if all you do is be in it.
You’re allowed to mourn while you lead.
A few invitations for entrepreneurs navigating grief:
🌀 Let your audience know you’re in a season of tenderness.
🌀 Create content from the rawness if it feels healing to do so—but don’t force vulnerability for engagement.
🌀 Set energetic boundaries: reduce your client load, pause your launches, delay a program.
🌀 Wear or display something symbolic (a ring, a pin, a crystal, a candle) to remind yourself and your close circle that you’re in mourning.
🌀 Decline opportunities you’re not ready for.
🌀 Build space into your calendar—even for nothingness.
🌀 Say no. Say not yet. Say “I’m not ready.”
Grieving doesn’t mean you’ve lost your leadership.
It means you’re leading yourself through a very human experience—with grace.
🧭 If you’re holding unspoken grief in your business...
The Human Design Perspective Shift™ Call is a free 30-minute space to gently reflect on what’s shifting in your inner world—and how to lead from a place that honors your whole self.
It’s not coaching.
It’s not consulting.
It’s not strategy.
It’s presence.
It’s a mirror for what you already know inside.
We'll explore where your energy feels aligned, where it doesn’t, and how your inner child and inner CEO might walk forward—together.
If Lead From Within™ feels aligned, I’ll share more at the end.
No pressure—just clarity.
Because real leadership includes grief.
And you deserve space to be human—even while holding others.
