On Grief and Bereavement: How to Keep Living After the Loss of a Loved One, Find Meaning & Heal Your Heart

In the very beginning, it feels like your heart is breaking into a thousand little pieces. You'll find it difficult to breathe, as if someone had punched you in the chest and squeezed every last drop of air from your lungs. Grief isn't just psychological, it can have profound effects on your health, your cognitive abilities and even your desire to live. . Chances are that you find it difficult to maintain a sense of normalcy, to keep on going when you feel like crawling in bed, curling up in a little ball and spending the next year under your blanket. While , we are never fully prepared for its impact. If only we had one more day, a few more hours to tell that special someone how much we love and appreciate them. Unfortunately, reality doesn't work this way. On top of that, societal notions of grief are tremendously skewed. You're anticipated to be tough, you're often being told that That's not how grief works. It's not a switch you can flick on and off. Grief will be with you for the rest of your life. Time doesn't heal such wounds. But you can learn to In , you will discover: And a lot more. Right now, you feel like you're alone in this world. Nobody has gone through what you experience, nobody has been in your shoes. However, the truth is, millions of others have had to face a devastating loss. It has turned their lives upside down and some haven't been capable of recovering. You will get better. Right now, however, you have to gain a better understanding of what grief is doing to you, how it's affecting your family and what it takes to heal.