ST. GEORGE — Through the creation of a grief journal, one woman not only penned her own healing journey but also inked a tale of resilience, hoping to inspire others to script their own narratives of struggle and triumph.

“Grief is an emotion that we experience way more than we think,” Lexie Dopp said. “It’s not just death; it can be divorce, losing a job or a change in family dynamics. I’m so passionate about getting this in the hands of people so they can feel better and keep living life.”

Dopp is the creator behind Lexie Faith (LEFA) Collective, a business geared toward those grieving and inspired by her own experience of hard times and significant loss. Her “Growing Through Grief” journal is designed with prompts to help those dealing with grief express their emotions on paper. By guiding users through the process of articulating their feelings, Dopp said the journal can help alleviate depression and anxiety and establish healthier sleep patterns.

For as long as she can remember, Dopp said she has loved documenting events through journaling and photography. Having struggled with anxiety and depression throughout her life, she said journaling has provided an outlet for her thoughts and feelings.

“Some people have hard days when hard days come up,” she said. “But for people who struggle with mental health, it can be a good day and a bad day every other day. It could be over nothing, and it can feel so sad.”

In 2020, when faced with the turmoil of divorce, Dopp found herself in a devastating situation. To help her navigate through this challenging time, a friend gifted her a guided bereavement journal typically intended for those coping with the loss of a loved one. With a marriage spanning a year and a half and a relationship of seven years in total, the end of this chapter in her life was particularly hard.

“When she handed it to me, she said, ‘I know this might feel weird, but I feel like you’re going through a death in your life,’” Dopp said. “And it was weird. He (her ex-husband) was down the street, but I felt like he was dead. It was surreal. It was the death of so many things, like the family I thought I was building.”

She felt overwhelmed by a tumultuous whirlwind of emotions, unable to fully process them, which made it nearly impossible to sleep. The journal prompts guided her in sorting through the thoughts swirling in her mind and translating them onto paper. She experienced a sense of relief, allowing her to drift into a restful sleep after journaling that first night. From that point forward, she committed to journaling every evening, modifying prompts that didn’t resonate with her and adding new ones as needed.

During her marriage, she said she developed a strong sense of codependency, which made her feel profoundly uneasy when alone after the divorce. Despite her discomfort, she pushed herself to embark on solo travels. Carrying the journal with her at all times became a comforting ritual, helping to soothe her emotions and regain a sense of balance within herself.

As Dopp shared her journey on social media, she began receiving messages from individuals navigating divorces and other challenging life transitions. She consistently emphasized the significance of journaling and therapy in her personal healing journey. Through therapy, she acquired invaluable tools for building self-trust and self-regulation. These very tools have been integrated into therapy worksheets, which she now includes in her “Growing Through Grief” journal, extending the same resources to others on their healing paths.

It was during a Christmas yoga class that the inspiration struck her to create a grief journal that could resonate with anyone facing difficult circumstances. Returning home, she looked at the completed journal with crossed-out prompts and impromptu additions. She put the new journal together, and by the following autumn, she had ordered the first batch. In January 2023, she officially launched her business. 

Just three months after launching her business, she received life-altering news — she was pregnant. However, the joy of expecting a child was overshadowed by the discovery that her baby had a birth defect. The condition, gastroschisis, meant her baby’s bowel was outside of the body, turning her pregnancy into a high-risk situation.

In preparation for the birth and the first few months of her daughter’s life, she had to relocate to Salt Lake City for the last two months of her pregnancy, residing in hospital housing.

“It’s just not how you plan to bring your first baby into the world,” she said. “You think, one day I’m going to be a mom, and you see your aunts and your mom and think it’s going to be so special, especially as you get older and get intentional about what you want. It’s a different form of grief by itself.”

She found herself living out of a suitcase, making daily visits to the neonatal intensive care unit for several months. And always, she turned to her own journal, which provided a safe place to find hope and express her hardships. While there were surgeries and highs and lows in the NICU, she now has a healthy 7-month-old daughter.

“People have feelings of grief-filled anger and sadness they don’t process, and it just gets buried,” she said. “It affects every aspect of your life. If you want to feel better, you have to deal with those things. And the journal is such an accessible tool, and it’s something you can start today, right now, for free.”

Her journal, “Growing Through Grief,” is intentionally designed to be non-linear, empowering users to select prompts that resonate with them. Dopp encourages unrestricted writing, urging users not to filter their thoughts or censor themselves as if someone else might read them. If feelings of embarrassment or apprehension arise, she advises discarding the journal after it’s completed. Ultimately, journaling is a personal journey with no constraints or rules to limit self-expression.

To add “Growing Through Grief” to your mental toolbox or gift it to a friend in need, visit her website. Follow Dopp on Instagram and Facebook for the latest products and updates.

“I’m not alone in all this hard stuff,” she said. “Everyone’s hard stuff is different, and they’re in different seasons. Not everyone needs this right now, but your life could change. And you need tools to help you get through it. Because life is still good, life is still amazing.”

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