Breaking Point

Sharing our grief is hard, no matter the cause. It could be the death of a parent, spouse, pet, or child. The death of a long-term, committed relationship can be just as devastating.

It’s made more difficult when we are sharing with someone who has never experienced a severe loss. We are trying to describe what’s going on inside, and there is nothing physical that we can hold up to show them. And if neither of us has grieved before, then we don’t know the landscape we are trying to describe. It’s like being dropped in a foreign land and trying to describe it to someone over the phone.

Grief Is

My friend Kelsea said grief is a teacher, a catalyst for change, and a mercy. This started me thinking about what grief is and the roles that grief plays.

Grief teaches us about ourselves, how we deal with extreme stress, sorrow and personal devastation. It tells us how deeply we have loved someone— a spouse, parent, sibling, child or friend — and it teaches us about the stark realities of life, that people we love die, often unexpectedly, and we grieve.