Recognizing and understanding your grief: Chapter 1: An introduction to grief: What is grief?

Chapter 1: An introduction to grief

What is grief?

The grief expert says

Carol shares about grief and how normalizing its experience can be helpful for families.(3:22)Video transcript

I was surprised at how the grief came in waves for me. One day I was fine and the next I wasn’t. You can live with the grief, but it changes you forever.

Grief hasn’t ended for me, but it has changed. I think we need to work on making space for people to just be with one another, without trying to fix it or put a timeline on it.

Grief is a normal response to loss that is often misunderstood. Whenever you lose someone or something important to you, you grieve, but not always in the same way. Some losses are more significant than others and have a greater impact on you.

Click on the arrows below to reveal some facts about grief.

Grief doesn’t follow a straight line.

Grief doesn’t have a time limit.

There is no right or wrong way to grieve. Only you can decide what is or isn’t helpful for you.

Your grief may come and go and vary in intensity.

Grief-related thoughts and feelings can come up months or even years later.

Your feelings may surprise you and may not fit with your previous experiences of grief. You may have not felt much at first but now feel that grief is taking up your entire life. You may be grieving for the past and wondering about the future.