“I feel guilty for still being alive when someone else didn't make it.”
Survivor's guilt is grief turned inward. The guilt is not logical — you did not cause what happened — but it is real and it deserves to be taken seriously rather than dismissed. The path through it is not convincing yourself the guilt is wrong. It is grieving what was lost and then deciding what to do with the life you still have.
Your Practice
Write about the person you lost. What did they want for their life? What mattered to them? Then ask: is there any way to carry something of that forward in your own — not to honor a debt, but as a genuine act of remembrance? If this feeling is persistent and heavy, please speak with a counselor who can help you work through it properly.
The Architects
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”