Grief

One of my favorite topics to talk about in therapy is grief.

Grief is a complicated thing. It’s hard to describe because it can take on many forms. It’s a universal human experience. We will all experience loss in some way, shape, or form and yet we don’t talk about it in the way that maybe we should.

There are some excellent grief resources out there.

My favorite is What’s Your Grief? An Instagram and website by two clinicians from Maryland who specialize in grief. Anderson Cooper has a great podcast, too.

There are plenty of theories out there about grief, too, and grief isn’t just about death losses, but about any kind of loss.

Moving away, starting a new job, a divorce, the life turning out a different way than maybe you had hoped or expected, a medical or mental health diagnosis you or someone you love receives, incarceration, addiction.

We often experience grief with change. We may feel that our grief is downplayed or made to be unimportant (disenfranchised grief).

It’s a normal, human experience to feel all of the feelings where grief and loss are concerned. And there is not right or wrong way to grieve.

What matters is allowing ourselves to experience and acknowledge it, to seek help in holding it, in therapy or support groups.

You are not alone in your grief.