Ways to grieve - one right way?

All of us experience loss and grief. In fact, there are many things that we can loss and grieve over: the death of a partner or spouse, no longer having a job, experiencing a miscarriage, or having a friend move to another city, to name just a few.

A common misconception is that there is a “right” way to grieve. The process of this “right” grieving involves high levels of sadness for a period of time after the event, which makes it hard to do everyday life. This is followed by a gradual improvement in how one feels, and a “getting back into” daily life. 

But the reality is that there are many different ways to grieve, and each of them are “right.” Just like there are lots of different fruits or colours that can equally say “I’m a fruit” or “I’m a colour,” so there are lots of different grief responses that can say “I’m a way to react to loss.” Sadly, we often make it harder for the person grieving when we expect them to grieve in a certain way, or when we suggest or imply they aren’t grieving “the right way.”

The following blog posts will explore some of the ways in which people might grieve following a loss. The posts will make it clear why such responses make sense, and why it’s okay for people to grieve in such a way.

If you would like to learn more about grief counselling at Robertson & Ling, or any other counselling we offer, such as marriage or couples counselling, please visit our Services page. You are also welcome to a free, 30 minute phone consultation to discuss your needs and suitability for counselling. Alternatively, if you would like to book an appointment with a Robertson & Ling counsellor, you can do so here.