Reactions That People Often Experience with Their Grief

• Am I grieving correctly?
• I never knew it would hurt as much as it does!
• My grief and life feel out of control.
• I am soooo angry!!
• I experience tightness in my throat and heaviness in my chest.
• I feel relieved and this makes me feel guilty
• My sleep is interrupted most nights and this makes life hard
• I am either not eating or eating too much!
• Concentration is so hard right now. What is wrong with me?
• My mind is on a merry-go-round and will not stop!
• I feel that “it” is not real. This is a nightmare and not a reality
• I cry at unexpected times and do not want others to see me when I am upset or feeling my feelings, especially around my children.
• I sometimes sense my loved one’s presence, like hearing their voice. Am I crazy???
• People don’t know what to say to me when they see me. Sometimes this feels so uncomfortable. I feel that I have “grief cooties”!
• I feel so empty right now.
• It doesn’t take much for my mood to continually change on a daily basis.
• I wish that people would speak the name of my loved one and share memories and stories of them. This helps me not feel so alone in my grief.
• My family doesn’t understand my grief. We are all doing this so differently as a family which it makes grief difficult at times to understand.
• People use the word closure when referring to my grief. There is no closure.

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