Day 35: Grief PSA
Knowing what to say and even more importantly, what not to say, to grieving people can be tricky. Even as a grief therapist with years of being with grieving humans, I mess it up sometimes.
I don’t tend to offer a ton of “what not to say” or “what to say” lists because at the end of the day, grieving people are intuitive enough to know if 1) you genuinely care no matter what words you use and 2) if you actually want to hear about how they are doing, even if the answer is hard to hear.
One of the most important ways to show up for someone who is grieving is to actually WANT to hear how they are. Are you ok? is a crummy question and typically comes from a place of fear, instead of compassion. If you are genuinely looking to know and be with someone in their pain, take a moment to wonder about the person and allow for the likelihood that no, your grieving friend is not ok. And let’s give grievers some space to not be alright. Grieving humans don’t need to be fixed. They want to be seen and feel less alone in their pain.
#nationalgriefawarenessday #grief #bereavement #grieftherapy #groundedgrief #parentloss #childloss #siblingloss #motherloss #fatherloss #healingingrief #fatherloss #acutegrief #traumaticgrief #disenfranchisedgrief #miscarriage #suicide #homicide #continuingbonds #infertility #nondeathloss #divorce #petloss #complicatedgrief #griefeducation #ambiguousloss #childgrief #selfcompassion
Welcome to my #100dayproject. I am providing a daily offering on #grief, in honor of each person who has trusted me with their story and wisdom during their #griefjourney. I hope that others may benefit from simple and straightforward talk about a topic that can be difficult. Thanks for following and/or sharing.