The Health Diaries

Nora McInerny on the Complicated Trajectory of Grief

The author of ‘No Happy Endings’ and host of the podcast ‘Terrible, Thanks for Asking’ shares a day in her life

There are many ways to live a healthy life. The Health Diaries is a weekly series about the habits that keep notable people living well.

Nora McInerny’s life took a drastic turn when she was 31: In the space of a year, she had a miscarriage, her dad died of cancer, and her first husband, Aaron, died from a brain tumor.

McInerny’s openness about her grief — shared with a touch of humor, a lot of grace, and a massive dose of real talk about how broken she felt — eventually brought her onto the global stage, first in a viral obituary she wrote with her husband before he died, then in her three published books (her most recent memoir, No Happy Endings, was released this year), and later on at stage at TEDWomen 2018 and on her Podcast, Terrible Thanks for Asking. McInerny also runs a nonprofit called Still Kickin’ and writes for a number of different websites.

This week, the bubbly entrepreneur shares with Elemental her love of food freedom, how she finally got her kids to put down their phones, and finding routine in a life she never could’ve…