Coming Soon!

How to Love Someone Through the Storm

There are times in life when someone you love is hurting—and you can’t fix it.

You can show up. You can listen. You can cry, pray, research, beg, bargain, and offer every ounce of love you have. But the truth is, some battles are internal. And as much as you want to carry someone across the finish line, healing is a choice only they can make.

Sara Yearwood learned this the hardest way. Her daughter Grace was hospitalised with anorexia, and Sara found herself in a world no parent wants to enter—where love meets limits, and care means learning to let go of control.

Her story is one of heartbreak, strength, and quiet surrender. And while the details might be unique, the deeper message is something many of us need to hear: you don’t have to rescue someone to walk beside them. You just need to keep showing up with love.

Here are a few of the Life Lessons we took from Sara’s experience—and how you might apply them to your own life, whether you’re supporting someone else or going through a storm of your own.

You Don’t Have to Disappear Just Because Life is Hard

When someone you love is struggling, the instinct is often to give everything—every ounce of time, energy, attention. But as Sara’s husband reminded her, “You need to hold onto a bit of yourself.”

That’s not selfish. It’s survival.

Whether it’s a child in crisis, a partner battling depression, or a loved one facing illness, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Keeping one thread of “normal” life—work, walking the dog, a coffee with a friend—isn’t an indulgence. It’s what allows you to stay steady in the chaos.

👉 Life lesson: Staying connected to yourself helps you stay present for others. You don’t have to vanish to prove you care.

Love Can’t Save Someone Who Doesn’t Want to Be Saved—But it Can Light the Way

One of the most powerful moments in Sara’s story is when she told Grace, “You have to want to get better.”

As a parent, those words felt terrifying. What if she pushed too hard? What if it backfired? But she knew the truth: the will to heal had to come from Grace.

And it did.

There’s courage in letting someone make their own choice, even when every cell in your body wants to choose for them.

👉 Life lesson: Sometimes, loving someone means trusting their timeline, not yours.

You Can Be the Dolphin—Not the Rescuer

Sara learned about the “carer archetypes” often seen in eating disorder recovery. The one that stayed with her was the dolphin: the calm, gentle presence that nudges but doesn’t chase. Steady. Safe.

Grace would later say, “You were my dolphin, Mum.”

It’s a reminder that you don’t need to have all the answers. Just being consistent, compassionate, and calm can be more healing than anything you say or do.

👉 Life lesson: You don’t need to rescue someone to help them heal. Sometimes your quiet presence is enough.

You’re Not Weak Because You Cry in the Car

Sara learned to let herself break down in private—crying in the car, going silent in the shower. Those moments weren’t failures. They were releases.

We often think strength means holding it together. But real strength is letting the emotions move through so they don’t calcify inside us.

👉 Life lesson: Emotional honesty is part of resilience. Let the storm move through you—you don’t have to be the eye of it all the time.

Connection is the Goal—Not Control

This might be the deepest thread running through Sara’s story. At the start, like most of us, she wanted to fix things, control the outcome, make it better.

But over time, she learned: the goal isn’t control. It’s connection.

Naming the illness as separate from Grace allowed them to keep seeing each other—mum and daughter—not just patient and carer.

That shift made space for healing.

👉 Life lesson: Whether you’re dealing with mental health, addiction, or grief—find the person behind the pain. Connect there.

What This Might Mean For You

Maybe you’re not facing the same circumstances as Sara. But perhaps you’re:

• Watching someone you love spiral and feeling helpless.
• Trying to support a child, sibling, or partner without burning out.
• Carrying guilt that you didn’t see something sooner.
• Wondering if you’re doing enough—or too much.

Wherever you are, let this remind you:

• You’re allowed to be human, too.
• Your presence matters more than your perfection.
• You don’t need to rescue people—you need to love them in a way that reminds them they’re worth rescuing themselves.

And most of all:  You’re doing better than you think.

To find out more about Eating Disorders:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.