Latest news with #ElenaRicci
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Man Leaves Behind 'Yes List' for Girlfriend After He Dies. 3 Years Later, She's Checking Off the Boxes
Elena Ricci, 29, is checking off the boxes on a list of 101-item "yes list" she received in the mail days after her boyfriend Chirag died Among the items on the list are dying her hair blonde, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and bungee jumping "I'm grateful that he sent me that," the content creator saidThree years ago, a British man left behind a 101-item 'yes list' for his girlfriend. Now, she's starting to check off all the boxes. Elena Ricci, 29, said her boyfriend of six years Chirag, 26, died by suicide in July 2022, according to SWNS. Just a few days later, the content creator from Birmingham said she received a letter in the mail from Chirag. The letter contained a list of 50 things they wanted to do as a couple, and another 51 things Elena had mentioned wanting to do herself. The goal, she said, was to ensure she continued to live her life, even after he was gone. "When I first read it I thought 'what the hell is this?' she recalled, noting that she was initially left 'angry' and in 'disbelief." Three years later, in January 2025, Elena reread the list from Chirag, according to SWNS. She then decided to start the list, and her goal is to check off every single item. "Now going through it again, I still feel some anger but I'm grateful that he sent me that,' she explained, adding, "I'm re-learning how to live.' Elena has already accomplished a number of items on the list, including "enjoying her birthday' on May 11. "I enjoyed it for the first time in two years,' she explained. Now, Elena wants to visit Stourhead, where Pride and Prejudice was filmed, and dye her hair blonde. Chirag suggested Elena do some fun and adventurous things, such as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, going to Bali and bungee jumping. He also encouraged her to 'have an Italian summer romance before you're 30' and 'ask your mum to arrange a date for you,' as well as 'play guitar again and actually become good at it' and 'do something you hate.' Also on the list is buying a house, which Elena hopes to work toward while accomplishing some of the other items. Chirag also recommended that Elena go to therapy, which she has already started. Some of the items surprised Elena, who said she had only mentioned a few of them in passing over the years. "I wanted to do something really big for my 30th like going to Thailand. I mentioned it when we first started dating. I don't know how he remembered that,' she explained. "There was also bungee jumping - I mentioned it as a joke. I'm terrified of heights. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Elena hopes that by opening up about her grief, it can help others heal from theirs. "Life looks completely different,' she said, 'it doesn't mean you can't enjoy the life I have now.' If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 24/7. Read the original article on People
Daily Mail
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
My boyfriend took his own life - the letter he sent me from beyond the grave filled me with rage
A woman has revealed how she was left with conflicting feelings after her boyfriend left her a letter after taking his own life. Elena Ricci, 29, from Birmingham was devastated when she lost her partner of six years, Chirag, 26, in July 2022. Days after his death she received a letter in the post from Chirag - that he had sent before he passed away - with 101 things for her to do to help her live again. 50 of these were things they'd wanted to do today, while an extra 51 were ones he'd remembered Elena speaking about - including climbing Kilimanjaro, dyeing her hair blonde, going on a date and falling in love again. Initially Elena was 'angry' at the letter and spent the next few years 'sleep walking through life' to get through her grief. But now, nearly three years on, she has re-read the letter and has now decided to start trying to complete the things set out for her - calling it her 'yes list'. Elena, a content creator, said: 'When I first read it I thought "what the hell is this?". 'At the beginning it was all anger and disbelief and the audacity to send me this. Now going through it again I still feel some anger but I'm grateful that he sent me that. 'He probably knew I wouldn't want to live anymore. I'm re-learning how to live. I've called it my yes list.' Elena said that the letter from Chirag read: 'I'm really sorry about what I have done but we already had 50 things we wanted to do together - I hope you'll still do them. I added 50 more things I think you should do.' Elena struggled initially to process her grief after losing Chirag suddenly. She said: 'I did feel completely numb. Every day felt like a dream for a while. 'After the funeral I completely broke down. It hit me he was dead and never coming back. I was walking through life sleep walking, I didn't want to face my grief.' It was only this January that Elena decided to re-read Chirag's letter - and saw he had told her to get grief therapy. After having a few sessions she has started to face her loss and has now decided to try and slowly complete the things on the list. So far she has ticked off 'enjoying her birthday' and aims to now dye her hair blonde and visit Stourhead, Wiltshire - where Pride and Prejudice was shot. SOME OF THE ITEMS ON CHIRAG'S 'YES' LIST FOR ELENA Some of Chirag's suggestions included: - Just start - Do something you hate - Enjoy your birthday again - Do grief therapy - Do DBT therapy - Dye your hair blonde - Go to Stourhead - Have an Italian summer romance before you're 30 - Ask your mum to arrange a date for you - Go bungee jumping - Play guitar again and actually become good at it - Climb Kilimanjaro Elena started by ticking off the task to enjoy her birthday on May 11, 2025 - going to the Ivy and the Yorkshire Dales with her friends, where they went hiking and to the sauna. She said: 'I enjoyed it for the first time in two years. Doing my birthday was something I did for other people because they know how much I used to enjoy it. This year I did it for myself.' Some of the things on the list may take years to complete - such as buying a house - but Elena hopes to start making her way through some of the more manageable ones. Chirag also listed going to Bali, climbing Kilimanjaro and taking a sabbatical. Elena said some of the things on the list were things she had mentioned once years ago and she was surprised Chirag had remembered them. She said: 'I wanted to do something really big for my 30th like going to Thailand. I mentioned it when we first started dating. I don't know how he remembered that. 'There was also bungee jumping - I mentioned it as a joke. I'm terrified of heights. He's also put on "go on a date" and "fall in love again" - but that's for years time.' Elena feels her therapy and the list has started to give her more 'ups than downs'. Elena even managed to enjoy her birthday this year (pictured) and visited the Yorkshire Dales with her friends She said: 'Life looks completely different - it doesn't mean you can't enjoy the life I have now. I don't have to feel guilty about it. 'Feeling guilty doesn't bring people back from the dead.' She also hopes that opening up about her grief journey will help others who have gone through similar circumstances. She said: 'We see death as a taboo. Everyone goes through it. It's so important to talk about it even if it's makes people uncomfortable. 'The secrecy of it makes people unprepared to deal with it.' Speaking about Chirag, she said: 'He was the funniest person I have ever met. He was so kind. He was always ready to help others.' You can contact Samaritans for free on 116 123, email them at jo@ or visit to find your nearest branch.
The Sun
2 days ago
- The Sun
My heart shattered when pal phoned & told me my boyfriend was dead – but two days later he sent me a letter & I saw red
HEARING the words 'they've found a body', Elena Ricci braced herself for what was about to unfold. Just hours earlier, she'd received an email from her boyfriend of six years, Chirag, detailing what he was about to do, and now the pieces of the jigsaw were all falling into place. 8 8 8 Chirag, 26, had taken his own life, and while he'd told Elena, 29, of his plan the same day, she never imagined for a second that he'd go through with it. To add to her grief, two days later Elena received an apology from Chirag in a letter 'from beyond the grave', and her shock turned to anger. In it, Chirag had also written 101 tasks he wanted her to complete, ranging from a bungee jump to a summer romance and asking her mum to set her up with a date. Elena, a content creator from Birmingham, West Midlands, WHO MET CHIRAG HOW TO COME says: "When I first read it, I thought 'what the hell is this?'. "It read 'I'm really sorry about what I have done, but we already had 50 things we wanted to do together - I hope you'll still do them. I added 50 more things I think you should do'. "At the beginning, I felt anger and disbelief - that he'd had the audacity to send me this." Elena explained how Chirag, who lived in London, had struggled with his mental health for some time before he took his own life. She recalls how he didn't talk about his feelings, but that he never spoke of contemplating suicide either. She says: "He never said he was thinking of killing himself. "We'd talk about life in general and how hard it is to find purpose. "Things like racism got to him - people don't realise how much it gets to you." 'I had no idea' It was in July 2022 when the email landed in Elena's inbox, and she soon realised that Chirag had scheduled it to land at around the same time of his death. She says she thought the email was some kind of 'joke': "It was very sudden, I had no idea,' Elena adds. "He sent me the email at 8pm, and in the email it said what he did [his plans to take his own life]. I didn't believe it. "I still thought it was a joke for a few hours. "I felt a lot of guilt - not understanding how severe things were and not being able to help. "I wish I could have done more but I know there was nothing I could have done." 8 8 8 Elena called her local police and was told they would get in touch with police in London, where Chirag's body was later discovered. The pair's relationship had been long-distance for two years. However, desperate for answers, she then asked Chirag's friend to go to the location Chirag had mentioned in the email. Elena says: 'When he called me with the news that a stranger had found a body, my life was turned upside down. "I knew it was him. "The friend managed to get in touch with his family and confirm it was Chirag. It felt like I was in a dream or in a movie, and I was feeling so much that I didn't know how to react. "I was forcing myself to cry." 'Completely numb' Elena was still reeling from the shock when Chirag's letter arrived in the post 48 hours later. Struggling to process her grief, she put the letter in a drawer where it would stay for the next three years. She says: "I felt completely numb, every day felt like a dream for a while. "After the funeral, I completely broke down, and it hit me that he was never coming back. "I was walking through life sleepwalking - I didn't want to face my grief let alone tick off tasks in a letter." It was only in January this year that Elena decided to read Chirag's letter again. He'd asked her to see a grief therapist, and after a few sessions, she began to slowly move forward with her life. Now, three years on from Chirag's death, Elena is finally ticking off tasks on his list that included dying your hair blonde, doing something you hate and picking up a guitar again. One simple task was to enjoy her birthday in May, a milestone she has struggled with since losing her partner. She says: "I enjoyed my birthday for the first time in two years. "Doing my birthday was something I did for other people because they know how much I used to enjoy it. "This year, I did it for myself. "I went to the Ivy restaurant and then visited the Yorkshire Dales with friends - we went to the sauna and hiking." Elena still has mixed feelings about Chirag's requests. She says: I still feel some anger but also grateful - he probably knew I wouldn't want to live anymore,' she says. "I'm re-learning how to live thanks to him. "I've called it my yes list." Whilst some of Chirga's requests may take years to complete, like buying her own house, Elena hopes to keep ticking off the more manageable ones. She adds: "I want to visit the place in Stourhead where Pride and Prejudice was shot. "I've dyed my hair blonde - a bronze blonde - which was also on the list. "I'm happy I've done it. "I feel like a new person, almost." 8 8 You're Not Alone EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide It doesn't discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers. It's the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes. And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women. Yet it's rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now. That is why The Sun launched the You're Not Alone campaign. The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives. Let's all vow to ask for help when we need it, and listen out for others… You're Not Alone. If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
