Hi, I’m Rachel.

I’m an adventure lovin’, thrill seeking, photographer and writer based in Phoenix AZ, and Minneapolis, MN. My heart beats for cacti, city skylines, handcrafted old fashioneds and potatoes in any form.

In 2017 I lost my mom to suicide and spiraled down the awkward and emotionally isolating experience commonly referred to as grief. My story doesn’t exactly have an a-ha! moment because the light bulb that lit up for me was on a dimmer switch but since her death I slowly discovered that grief doesn’t happen in a vacuum, but alongside a mixture of all the other human emotions—joy, hope, fear, anger, and even love. Grief’s imprint taught me that life is precious and sparked me to quit my 9-5, uproot my life to the desert, and pursue my passion for creative storytelling full time.

Now I navigate life with my camera in one hand and a pen in the other and my blog is a mashup of love stories, brand stories, mental health and grief stories (it’s a niche), and my “real life” (I can’t make this shit up) stories. I bring heart and a little humor to even the toughest of stories and candidly share about a range of topics including living through loss, grief, and new beginnings, and how to run a creative based business.

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Posts tagged moving across the country and grief

The 5 Stages Of Grief As Applied To My 5 Day Cross Country Move | Part 1: Lincoln Nebraska

PersonalRachel SmakFebruary 7, 2025Acceptance they say is the last stage of the grieving process, advice for how to move on after loss, advice for moving across the country, advice for moving forward, advice for moving in, advice for moving on, advice for moving on after heatbreak, advice for moving on after sicide, advice for moving to a new city, advice for moving to a new state, advise for moving on after suicide, arizona boudoir photographer, arizona brand photographer, arizona commercial photographer, arizona copywriter, arizona editorial photographer, arizona editorial photography, arizona enagement photography, arizona engagement photographer, arizona engagement photos, arizona engagement session, arizona freelance copywriter, arizona freelance photographer, Arizona ghost writer, arizona lifestyle photographer, arizona photographer, arizona wedding photographer, arizona writer, Badgley Mischka, canon photographer, confessions of a suicide survivor, cross country road trip, dame 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The 5 Stages Of Grief As Applied To My 5 Day Cross Country Move | Part 3: Santa Fe, NM

My journey through those five stages of grief weren't stops on some linear timeline like my treck west to Phoenix. But those two thousand miles in between had taught me a lot. Bridging the border into Arizona, I remembered one of my favorite quotes the poet Jenna Cecelia penned, "Healing isn't taking the fast lane down the highway. Healing is taking the back roads with potholes and dead ends." Grinning as I remembered it, I knew for my healing that I was going to need to stay present and take my life off cruise control. If I was going to rewrite my ending, then it would start by putting in the work. I knew true healing and transcendence would only come when I finally faced my painful stories and wrestled with what they had to teach me.

Personal, PhotographyRachel SmakFebruary 7, 2025"My Mom Committed Suicide And I Found Her-, advice for how to move on after loss, advice for moving across the country, advice for moving forward, advice for moving in, advice for moving on, advice for moving on after heatbreak, advice for moving on after sicide, advice for moving to a new city, advice for moving to a new state, Advice on coping with death over the holidays, advise for moving on after suicide, alcohol, ANASAZI BAR AND LOUNGE, ANASAZI RESTAURANT, and more, arizona boudoir photographer, arizona brand photographer, arizona commercial photographer, arizona content creator, arizona copywriter, arizona editorial photographer, arizona editorial photography, arizona enagement photography, arizona engagement photographer, arizona freelance copywriter, arizona freelance photographer, Arizona ghost writer, arizona lifestyle photographer, arizona photographer, arizona wedding photographer, arizona wedding photography, arizona writer, 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Permission To Not Be Ok | My Conversation About Grief On The Inner Monologue Podcast

In the midwest where I’m from, when someone dies, we don’t send flowers and condolences; we send casseroles and small talk. We don’t like to feel uncomfortable with the discomfort of death. It’s unpalatable like those same “death” casseroles that had taken up space in my refrigerator. I assumed after my mother’s suicide that what the people around me wanted was for me to bypass the topic that sat between us all together and instead focus on bite-sized conversations that felt a bit more appetizing.

Uncategorized, Life & Style, Photography, EducationRachel SmakJune 21, 2019rachel smak photographysuicide Prevention and Help, surviving suicide, Suicide Survivors and How They Coped, Suicide Bereavement, Self-care tips in suicide survivors' own words, suicide and the aftermath, surviving my mothers suicide, ptsd and suicide, ptsd in suicide survivors, advise for moving on after suicide, Mom's suicide, Our Side of Suicide, Depression is a common feeling after losing someone to suicide, confessions of a suicide survivor, the story of my mom's suicide, the 5 stages of grief after suicide, my mom's suicide, What does it feel like to have a parent commit suicide?, How I'm Surviving the Pain of My Mother's Death by Suicide, the five stages of grief after suicide, moving across the country after suicide, what My Mom's Suicide Taught Me, moving after suicide, Looking for answers after my mother's suicide, Living in the Shadow of Suicide, Looking for answers after my mom's suicide, What My Mother's Suicide Taught Me About Living Fully, mourning after suicide, mourning after suicide and heartbreak, grief, grief across the country, moving across the country and grief, Coping with grief and loss during the holidays, dealing with grief after suicide this holiday season, traveling through grief, grief isn’t journeyed through in a straight line, grief is not a straight line, unpacking grief, Revisiting my grief, the 5 stage of grief and moving to a new city, it's ok to not be ok and other things they don't tell you about grief, what nobody tells you about grief, grief is messy, We don’t like to feel uncomfortable with the discomfort of death., In the midwest where I’m from, when someone dies, we don’t send flowers and condolences; we send casseroles and small talk., “death” casseroles, How do you talk about grief?, How do you articulate or put words to an experience like suicide?, what grief was supposed to look like, I didn’t need to present my grief in such a way that other people could double tap through., Grief’s imprint taught me that life is precious and shor, Grief’s imprint taught me that life is precious and short, how you cope with grief, platform to talk about grief, The Inner Monologue, The Inner Monologue Podcast, My episode on The Inner Monologue, my episode on The Inner Monologue podcast, Thomas Brown and Sharon Stelluto, Thomas Brown, Thomas Brown The Inner Monologue Podcast, Sharon Stelluto, Sharon Stelluto Entelechy Visions, healing modalities, healing sessions, remote energy work, intuitive mentoring programs and readings, custom meditations, space cleaning, suicide, and mental health, R.I.S.E. 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