I believe in the importance of individuality, but in the midst of grief I also find myself wanting connection - wanting to be reminded that the sadness I feel is not just mine but ours.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Grief releases love and it also instills a profound sense of connection.
I think everyone understands grief, the journey it takes us on, whether it's the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a disappointment. Some people don't deal with it, the power of it. Some do. Some feel the weight of it and it informs their choices. I've had to open up to grief in different contexts.
In our culture I think most people think of grief as sadness, and that's certainly part of it, a large part of it, but there's also this thorniness, these edges that come out.
Humans have a sense of spontaneity and emotion. We have a dichotomy between grief and happiness.
I can be almost terminally grief-stricken because things are so dire, but at the same time, there's a real lightheartedness about just the recoverability of life, of how things change, how they're not the same, ever again.
When sadness happens in the middle of work, I separate my personal grief from my train of thought.
But there is a discomfort that surrounds grief. It makes even the most well-intentioned people unsure of what to say. And so many of the freshly bereaved end up feeling even more alone.
I think everyone feels alone in their sadness, and there's a certain value to hearing other people's sad stories.
I think you have to deal with grief in the sense that you have to recognize that you have it, and say that it's OK to have all the sadness.
No one feels another's grief, no one understands another's joy. People imagine they can reach one another. In reality they only pass each other by.