"Grief. We've all experienced it. And if we're lucky, we've had support to find our way through it. In her book Grief is a Sneaky Bitch, Lisa Keefauver wants to provide that support through her expertise as a social worker and her own deeply personal experience of loss. Keefauver's advice is framed around the concept of the 5 Ws of grief: why you are grieving, what type of grief, who is grieving, where grief comes from and where it goes, and when we grieve. Building from her podcast of the same name, Keefauver asserts that we live in a grief-illiterate world and offers her readers "a place, time, and space to be seen, validated, and accompanied in your grief." The book is organized into short, manageable parts that address themes like time, relationships with others, stories, and grief skills. It is designed to be flexible, so the book can be read from cover to cover or readers can choose the pieces that will help them best since chapters have been crafted to be read in any order"-- Provided by publisher.

"Much of the introduction comes from Lisa Keefauver's 2023 TEDx Talk, 'Why Knowing More About Grief Can Make It Suck Less'"--Title page verso.

Inviting you to start here: orientating you to the who, what, where, when, and why of grief -- Preface: Life lessons learned at the bottom of the ocean -- Introduction: A guide to reading this book -- Time in grief: discovering how and why time feels so different. The worlds still spinning -- Start close in -- The messy middle -- Wait. Am I still grieving? -- What the hell is happening to me? Helping you see the 360-degree impact of grief (no, it's not just all in your head). Everything sucks (and other negative thoughts) -- This is your brain on grief -- Your body knows -- Too much too soon -- Emotions and feelings and moods, oh my! -- Another full-time job -- Relating to yourself and others (or not): (re)discovering yourself and your relationship to others in grief. Everyone is stylish in their own way -- Knowing and honoring your needs -- Oh, the places you go and the people you see (and why it's exhausting) -- People say stupid shit -- Whose got your back? -- Of course it's complicated -- Access denied -- Pitfalls, hazards: identifying the grief thief and other speed bumps when navigating loss. Watch out for the grief thief -- There is no grief GPS -- Ambiguity s-u-c-k-s -- "Should" is a dirty word (and not the swearing kind) -- Holidays, anniversaries and other grief hazards -- Secondary losses: the sneakiest bitches of them all -- Skills and tools that help grief suck less: discovering ways to soften the hard edges of grief. Notice mindfully -- Improv skills help -- Your turn to buddy-breathe -- Seek a creative resource -- Make space -- Now what? Bringing curiosity to the emerging story of your life. The beautiful, messy emerging you -- Memories for safekeeping -- Meaning-making (even though it did not happen for a reason) -- When grief becomes part of the whole story--but not the whole story -- A little extra. Appendix A: An alphabet of reminders for your grief journey -- Appendix B: A letter to the grief supporters.