When I’m Alone, I Don’t Have to Pretend to Be Okay

After five years of grieving my daughter, I wonder if I’m capable of being part of the world in any meaningful way.

Jacqueline Dooley
6 min readApr 22, 2022

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I’m an introvert, prone to isolating myself even before the pandemic. It’s difficult for me to reach out to friends and family (much less make new friends) when I need companionship and…

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Jacqueline Dooley

Essayist, content writer, bereaved parent. Bylines: Human Parts, GEN, Marker, OneZero, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Pulse, HuffPost, Longreads, Modern Loss