Gently Does It

Home
Notes
Memoir
Archive
About

Grief & loss

On showing curiosity and tenderness in our conversations
How can we keep the conversation warm when we're separated by time zones and shape shifting family dynamics.
 • 
Harriet Mason
6
Nine years later...
On remembering that life builds around the loss and that feelings will continue to ebb and flow.
 • 
Harriet Mason
2
'But Victoria Sponges are Wednesday afternoon cakes'
It wasn't the response I was hoping for after whipping up a Victoria Sponge one Saturday afternoon a year or so ago, but I understood what my teenager…
 • 
Harriet Mason
14
My next home will have dark green shutters
Shutters that lie against sun bleached terracotta painted walls. It'll sit amongst other apricot and pistachio green buildings, a stones throw from a…
 • 
Harriet Mason
19
Unexpected layers of emotion
Our seventh Ilkley-versary, dropping the middle child off in Cardiff and dad's ninth anniversary. It's been an interesting week or so round these parts…
 • 
Harriet Mason
4
All at sea
What does grief look and feel like years down the line. A few thoughts written a week or so before mum's eighth anniversary in May 2023.
 • 
Harriet Mason
2
The restorative power of a seaside circuit breaker
Six years after swapping coast for moorland I still feel the gravitational pull of the sea and the soothing rhythm of a beach walk.
 • 
Harriet Mason
1
World Cancer Day - what does it mean to you?
What does world cancer day mean to you? Sometimes these awareness days can pass you by, other times they trigger a thought. A memory.
 • 
Harriet Mason
On hiding our grief
I'm the first to say 'we need to talk about our grief and loss more openly' so why is my instinct is to turn & hide my tears, even in the safety of my…
 • 
Harriet Mason
Why I write about grief
Why do I write? Will the act of writing lead me to the truth, or do I need to find the truth first?
 • 
Harriet Mason
© 2025 Harriet Mason
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture