Totally Fine (And Other Lies I've Told Myself): What my decade grief taught me about life

' .' Laura Jane Williams, author and journalist One day, in the summer of 2008, I was travelling back to London when I received a phone call that suddenly changed everything. I was told my boyfriend Richard was in hospital. He died seven days later. I spent most of my twenties pretending this never happened. I was trapped within my own silence, left alone to absorb the discomfort, blame and judgement of others that I felt after Richard's suicide. I was suffering, but telling everyone that I was . The shame consumed me and I desperately wanted to find love again, but the rejection and heartbreak that followed proved to me, yet again, that I wasn't worthy of love and belonging. In our twenties, we are thrown into the adult world without a guidebook. I experienced a turbulent decade with what felt like catastrophic failures. And I've come to realise that - one that can grow so large that it can hold us back from a life worth living. And that it is only by sharing our stories that we can give a voice to what is unspoken. So whatever pain you're holding on to, whatever story you're scared to tell, ' Sathnam Sanghera, bestselling author of and .' Vicky Spratt,