Who Am I Now That Life Has Changed?

Grief can leave us asking a question we never expected:

Who am I now?

Life has changed for me in ways I could not have planned. I’ve experienced intense and layered loss. I’ve cried more tears than a photograph could ever explain. Even in the picture of me holding my book, The Quiet Cry Project: Poems for the Weary and Grieving, I can see some of what I lived through in the bags beneath my eyes.

But I also see someone who kept going.

I wrote books from what I lived through. I started building The Quiet Cry Project™. And recently, I became a licensed life insurance agent, giving me another way to serve families.

For a season, I’ve paused actively promoting my books while I learn, work, and give attention to this new chapter. That doesn't mean the books; or that part of my purpose have disappeared.

There is more of my story to come through my memoir and the music that will accompany it.

Grief reshapes us. Responsibilities change. New opportunities appear. Sometimes what once required most of our attention becomes quieter while another part of our lives grows.

But quieter does not mean erased.

Neither are we.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

I can honor what God gave me in one season while faithfully walking into another.

My books still matter.
My story still matters.
Serving families in a new way matters too.

Maybe my life doesn’t look like I once expected it to.

I’m learning that I don’t have to return to who I was before everything changed. I can give myself room to discover who I am becoming.

Purpose can evolve without disappearing.

Can you relate? Has grief or a major life change ever made you ask, “Who am I now?”

If you can relate, follow or subscribe to stay connected as I continue sharing more of my story through my memoir and music.

© 2026 SRJSTAR Music, LLC. All rights reserved.

“The Quiet Cry Project” is a creative work under SRJSTAR Music, LLC.

This is for the person who is grieving quietly, carrying trauma, or healing from losses that were never fully spoken. I remember the moment when my own world collapsed; losing loved ones back-to-back, losing the home I shared memories in with my father, losing stability, and losing pieces of myself I didn’t know how to recover. What I didn’t know then was that writing, music, faith, and therapy would become the pathway God used to rebuild me from the inside out. That’s why I created The Quiet Cry Project; a safe place for weary hearts to breathe, feel, and be restored. Your next step is simply to enter this space and receive the comfort God has for you. - Sheila