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Grief — An Introduction

Grief is a complicated mixture of many feelings, thoughts and experiences. Because the death of a loved one is the first chapter in a lifetime of living without that person, grief is a lifelong process of coming to terms with this major loss. The pain of grief is a normal, healthy response to the loss of someone we love.

When a loved one dies, each person embarks on their own individual journey of grief. Your grief is your own, and no one else can tell you how you ought to grieve.

Grief is hard. But grief is also normal.

Grief is not a sickness. And although you may feel like you are going crazy sometimes, grief is not a mental illness.

Grief is a complex process. Grief — a response to the death of a close loved one — is not a single feeling or experience. It is a complicated mixture of many feelings, thoughts and experiences swirling together — in a way that is often confusing for children (and for adults). These reactions can include shock, panic, anger, fear, guilt, sadness, and more.

Drawing expressing grief

Grief is feeling out of control. Grief is also questions — Who am I? Where do I fit? Who else will die? Who will take care of me? What is life now? What is my life now? Why me?

The death of the one we love is the first chapter in a lifetime of living without him or her. At every age, at every step along the way, we have to figure out how we're going to manage without the one we love so dearly.

The reality that our loved one is never coming back — that this death is permanent — takes time to sink in. As it does, the feelings of loss and bewilderment are often harder than the shock and confusion of the first months after the death.

Grief is a lifelong process of coming to terms with this major loss in our life.

Grief is the name of the road that is traveled after this loss. The pain of a broken heart is a human being's normal, healthy response to loss. Grief is the connection to the person no longer with us. It is more than just the sadness of missing someone — grief is a reorganizing of a whole life.