Rhi Axtell – Writer

A few days ago, an essay of mine was published on the Memento Mori substack – which is a year long project focusing on the subject of death run by the writing organisation 26 Characters.

My essay explores the music that has helped me grieve the loss of multiple family members in the last few years. I also include snippets from my journals at the time, another way in which I processed the loss and travelled through my grief. The essay is titled A final note: how music helped me grieve and you can read it here:

Writing the essay was challenging, which probably doesn’t come as a surprise. It took me a long time to work through each of these losses, and I found writing it opened me back up to that sadness. This, however, is the nature of grief. Even if I hadn’t written the essay, something else could have triggered exactly the same response within me. I’m still glad I wrote it and got to honour Joseph, Nana, and Granddad in another way.

I still listen to the pieces of music mentioned inside the essay. Although they bring me sadness, it is that strange paradox of grief – a happy sadness. Sad that they are gone, happy that I got to know and love them.

See you next time.