By Micaela Passeri

As women in business, we are often praised for our resilience. For our ability to lead meetings with a smile, meet deadlines under pressure, and show up for others no matter what we’re carrying inside.

But what happens when the inside becomes too heavy to hide?

What happens when we’re not just managing a business—but quietly grieving?

Grief is not always loud. It doesn’t always look like tears or time off. Sometimes, it shows up as silence. As fatigue. As the slow erosion of motivation or clarity.

And yet in the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship and leadership, grief is rarely given a seat at the table. It’s seen as something to be tucked away, managed privately, or “handled” before showing up in the professional arena.

But grief is not a detour from success.
It’s not a delay tactic.
It’s a deeply human experience that, when honoured, becomes a portal for transformation.

What Grief Really Looks Like—Especially for Women in Business

We often associate grief with the death of a loved one. But for women balancing careers, families, identities, and inner evolution, grief wears many faces:

• The end of a relationship that once grounded you
  
• The loss of a version of yourself you’ve outgrown
  
• A business shift that altered your sense of purpose
  
• A role that no longer fits, even if it once fulfilled you
  
• A vision for the future that suddenly vanished
  

These aren’t abstract losses. They are felt in your body, in your breath, in your day-to-day energy. And yet they are rarely spoken aloud.

Why? Because many of us were conditioned to believe that emotional processing is unprofessional. That if we grieve, we’re slowing down. Or worse, falling apart.

But grief is not a flaw—it is feedback. It tells us that something mattered deeply. It reminds us we are alive, connected, and evolving.

The Subtle Signs Grief Is Asking to Be Seen

Grief isn’t always obvious. Especially for high-functioning women who are used to pushing through.

You may be grieving even if you haven’t named it yet. Look for signs like:

• A sudden lack of focus or drive
  
• Feeling emotionally flat or unusually sensitive
  
• Finding conversations or decision-making overwhelming
  
• Experiencing waves of emotion without a clear reason
  
• Feeling disconnected from work that once inspired you
  

These aren’t signs of weakness.
They’re signals of an internal shift.

When we ignore these signals, we risk misinterpreting them as burnout, lack of discipline, or failure. But what if what you’re feeling isn’t brokenness—just grief that hasn’t been acknowledged?

Why Suppressing Grief Hurts More Than It Helps

Many women in business believe they need to “bounce back” quickly. Keep it together. Be strong.

But true strength lies in emotional honesty, not stoicism. When grief is repressed, it doesn’t disappear—it hides. It embeds itself in your nervous system, your work patterns, your relationships. It drains energy and blurs vision.

Healing doesn’t come from pushing grief aside. It comes from welcoming it without judgment.

You don’t need to spiral or fall apart to process grief. You simply need permission to feel it fully—at your own pace, in your own way.

How to Honour Grief Without Losing Momentum

You can hold space for grief and growth. One doesn’t cancel out the other. In fact, grieving well often deepens your capacity for leadership, empathy, and clarity.

Here are small but powerful ways to support yourself through grief:

• Name the loss, even if it feels subtle or incomplete
  
• Acknowledge its impact—what did it mean to you, and what shifted?
  
• Ground yourself with care—choose one daily ritual that soothes or centers you
  
• Give yourself grace—if your focus or capacity fluctuates, that’s normal
  

These aren’t quick fixes. They’re foundations for emotional sustainability.

You Don’t Have to Grieve in Silence

So many professional women carry grief quietly.
A breakup behind a business launch.
A miscarriage between client meetings.
A shift in identity after walking away from a role that no longer aligned.

We carry these things in the spaces no one sees—while still showing up for everything and everyone.

But grief is not meant to be carried alone.

This is why I do the work I do—supporting women in creating emotional space for what has been lost, so that they can rebuild with deeper truth, not just surface resilience.

If you are navigating unspoken grief—personal or professional—know this:

You are not behind.
You are not broken.
You are simply becoming someone new.

Let that be part of the process—not something you rush through to get back to “normal.” Because the next version of your success may be waiting on the other side of your healing.

And that success will be rooted in your wholeness, not your hustle.