Introverts and Grief

If you’re an introvert like me, you find it hard to share strong emotions even in the best of times. This presents a problem when we’re faced with grief, which is the worst. If left alone, we will choose to close the drapes and hole up until grief is gone. The problem is, grief isn’t going to leave without work.

Grief and the Ocean of Emotions

My new essay on grieving men (and women) and asking them to share their ocean of emotions, published by the Good Men Project.

You can read it at:

http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/grieving-men-and-their-ocean-of-emotions-s2h/

Men and the Death of Their Fathers: Neil Chethik

Neil Chethik, FatherLoss: How Sons of All Ages Come to Terms with the Deaths of Their Dads, Hachette Books, 2001.

            Neil Chethik provides insights into how men grieve death in his book, FatherLoss: How Sons of All Ages Come to Terms with the Deaths of Their Dads.

            Through interviews and questionnaires of hundreds of men who lost a father, some when they were in their teens and all the way up to men in their sixties, Chethik presents the scope of male reactions. Some men were on good terms with their fathers when they died, others were not. Some were physically taking care of their fathers in their last years, while others hadn’t seen their fathers in decades.

Head and Heart Living

Some men, perhaps most, operate out of their heads first, and then, eventually, from their hearts.  




When a wife dies, men risk losing contact with their hearts. Some put up a wall that blocks grief out and bury themselves in their work. Other men try to think their way through grief, as if it was a logical problem to be solved instead of a process to be worked through. 




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