When we hear the word “grief,” we usually all have the same idea in our heads: that someone died and we’re hurting as we come to terms with the loss. What many people haven’t recognized is how grief is a much broader concept than just the aftermath of death. Grief is how humans respond to losses of all kinds. These losses can be another person, a pet, a relationship, an object, an idea, an identity, an experience, or a physical or mental capacity. When we lose anything we’ve come to value, we grieve.

It's important to know that grief itself is not a problem to be solved. It’s not harmful. It’s not a sign of weakness, brokenness, or injury. Grief is a natural, normal, human process…just as human as love, in fact. Grief has a way of moving through its process in whatever way it needs to, like the water transporting itself down a riverbed. Gravity pulls it along, downward to its destination. Sometimes it encounters terrain that causes it to churn almost violently, roiling, forming whitewater, whirlpools, and rapids. Other times, it’s placid, calm, and slow. So long as it’s moving, it’s healthy. But, like a stagnant pond, when the water becomes motionless, it has the potential to become toxic. So what can prevent the grieving process from moving naturally along its way?

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