@superball that sounds like good training. To hear and understand that concept. I would have found it difficult to be a hospice volunteer.

@marynelson8 thank you so much for your kind words. And I’m sorry for your losses. Losing multiple people in our lives in a short period of time, doesn’t automatically mean we grieve them in the same way. It’s a hard concept for others to understand if they haven’t experienced anything like it. Thank you again.

Something I’ve learned about grief: people want to help, and sometimes that becomes advice about what you should do — cherish the memories, feel it, remember the good times, talk about it, don’t avoid it.

Most of it is said with love. But only the person grieving knows what they can handle right now.

Not going deeply into a memory isn’t always avoidance. Sometimes you can only let the hardest things back in a little at a time. A memory that may someday bring comfort can still be too painful today.

I’ve faced more this past year than most know. I’ve returned to places I dreaded and walked into rooms I wasn’t sure I could enter again. I did it. But I’ve learned to trust myself to know what I’m ready for and when.

Grief doesn’t need instructions. Sometimes the most helpful thing you can say is, “I’m here. I’m listening.”

Maybe someday the painful memories will be ones I can cherish again. I’m just not going to force myself there before I’m ready.

#Grief #GriefJourney #LifeAfterLoss