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Grief Looks Different
It’s Not One Size Fits All
“We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world — the company of those who have known suffering.”
Helen Keller, We Bereaved
Grief has many faces, and it isn’t one size fits all. Some people grieve differently than others, they might be more private about their grief, or it might hit them at different times. You don’t have to grieve a certain way despite what others tell you.
People may view those who don’t share their grief in a public way as cold or uncaring, but most of the time they’re just wrong.
“Grief can’t be shared. Everyone carries it alone; his own burden in his own way.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
When we assume someone is not grieving just because they don’t seem sad enough, we need to remember that not everyone looks the same when they’re grieving, so we can’t assume that just because we don’t see them down, when their grief doesn’t look the way we think it should, somehow that means they aren’t grieving, that’s so far from the truth.
“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.”
