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Granger Smith helps his group speak about grief.
The “Up Toward the Light” creator, who traded in his 24-year nation music profession final 12 months to pursue a future in ministry, remembered hitting a “rock bottom moment” and going into a really darkish place shortly after the loss of life of his 3-year-old son River in 2019. Smith can also be releasing a youngsters’s guide, focused at kids ages 4 to eight, in hopes of serving to youngsters and oldsters navigate grief and loss.
With the assistance of his son and daughter, Smith noticed the “ray of light” he wanted to proceed preventing not just for his personal life, but in addition for his household following their tragic loss.
“I thought of my children, Lincoln and London, the ones that I had. I lost my son River,” he solely instructed Fox News Digital. “I had Lincoln and London, and I saw their faces, and during a moment when I just wanted to end my life, I thought about them. And there was such a radiance of joy.”
COUNTRY MUSIC SINGER GRANGER SMITH TURNED TO FAITH DURING DARKEST TIMES: ‘IT SAVED MY LIFE’
Granger Smith detailed the ebbs and flows of grief in his new guide, “Up Toward the Light.” (Granger Smith)
He added, “God’s gift to me was them, and to know that they needed me as a father was a powerful understanding.”
“It sounds kind of obvious when I said it that way, but man, when the walls are closing in, and you’re in the darkness – any ray of light you can take is a godsend.”
The Smith household was exterior their residence when River slipped via their pool gate and drowned of their pool. River was shortly pulled out of the water, however was with out oxygen for too lengthy and died at a hospital two days later. Lincoln and London each witnessed the accident.
Since the accident, Smith and his spouse Amber have turn into outspoken advocates for kids’s water security and donated $200,000 to the hospital that handled River. In August 2021, additionally they welcomed one other toddler into the household when Amber gave delivery to son Maverick.
Granger Smith carried out for many years earlier than wrapping up life as a rustic music singer in April 2023. (Randy Holmes)
“It sounds kind of obvious when I said it that way, but man, when the walls are closing in, and you’re in the darkness – any ray of light you can take is a godsend.”
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Smith has since put pen to paper for his newest work, “Up Toward the Light.” The guide particulars his household’s tragic loss and the way Smith discovered peace and therapeutic by turning to his religion.
Granger Smith with spouse Amber and youngsters Maverick, London and Lincoln. (Granger Smith)
Granger admitted that at first, grief feels loads like “survival” and having the ability to “take the next breath.”
“A lot of times the more you love someone, the more you’ll grieve them,” he mentioned. “So if you’re someone that loves anyone a lot, then you’re going to grieve them a lot if you lose them. So the alternative to that is suppressing your love and not giving out love, and no one wants to do that. That’s that’s ridiculous.
WATCH: GRANGER SMITH DISCUSS ‘WAVES OF GRIEF’ FELT AFTER TRAUMATIC LOSS
“So we love fiercely like that. We love with full intention. And then we should be ready for the implications of that if we lose them, which is a heavy grief.”
He added, “There is a peace in figuring out that that heavy grief is a results of the love, and that if you did not have the love, you would not grieve. And then you definately form of carry that burden with you somewhat bit, and also you go, ‘OK, I carry this burden because of the love I had.’ And that makes it particular, and it is simpler to endure that means, figuring out why you are carrying that burden.”
Granger Smith announced the release of his new book on Instagram. (Granger Smith/Instagram)
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The “Backroad Song” musician said that grief is not all encompassing, and day by day gets easier, but you have to show up each day.
“A variety of occasions the extra you like somebody, the extra you may grieve them.”
“All I acquired to do is make it via in the present day. And for those who go, ‘That might be too much.’ Then you go, ‘Just this next hour’ or possibly, ‘Just this next minute.’ And in order that’s the start,” he said.
“That’s the very starting. That’s the very first thing I needed to notice, after which I felt as I used to be analyzing grief, that it does are available in waves and every part in life is available in waves, even sound and light-weight. It’s all waveforms. And the identical factor with grief. And for those who acknowledge that – it’s totally highly effective to acknowledge that grief is available in waves, particularly for those who’re journaling it, and also you’re form of protecting somewhat document of it since you may acknowledge a few issues.”
WATCH: GRANGER SMITH HOPES NEW BOOK CAN HELP OTHERS STRUGGLING WITH GRIEF
One thing Smith has learned throughout this process is there is power in numbers and to reach out to friends for help.
“There’s one thing about figuring out the method, figuring out that that is one thing everybody goes via, that everybody that loves goes via,” he said. “There’s a group round me. I do know that this hurts, however bodily it hurts. But I additionally perceive that mentally there is a means out of this.
“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. This book hopefully gets people thinking about their loss, and kind of outside themselves in analyzing this grief.”
Granger Smith’s newest guide, “Up Toward the Light.” (Granger Smith)
For his new youngsters’s guide, Granger revisited a “pretty impactful” talent he realized in remedy the place he merely talked to a tree – one thing which was fully unbiased and will solely pay attention.
“That’s exactly what I thought of. Like, this is weird, but as I kind of went out there and settled in, it was very therapeutic,” he mentioned.
“And so then I thought, well. What if there was a book that was kind of mimicking that situation in a kid’s view, where maybe the kid lost his grandpa, and he wants to talk to … he wants to talk to this tree about his grandpa. And somehow the tree has this wisdom that he couldn’t have found talking to anyone else. That’s literally what happened to me. And that was the inspiration behind the book.”
“Up Toward the Light” is ready to be launched on April 2, 2024.
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