When you first learn of the death of someone you love, you can go into shock. Then you may try to deny it. “No. He can’t be dead. I only talked to him yesterday. It must be a mistake.” These are natural reactions - in fact, they are the first stage of the grieving process. Understanding your grief won’t necessarily lessen the pain, but it can help you survive such a distressing time.

Unfortunately, we aren’t taught how to prepare for the death of someone close to us, although grief is one of the strongest emotions we’ll ever have to bear. It can produce feelings of loss, helplessness and sadness that are very difficult to cope with.

There is no easy way around grief. It is a natural response to the loss of someone special or something we value. Grief is not well understood in our society and some people try to deny it, postpone it or avoid it - there will be big and small adjustments which have to be made in your life. You will change. Your routine will change. Your moods will change. All of this is called ‘grief’. It is really about adapting to the changes in your life, your thoughts your hopes your beliefs and your future.

There is no set pattern to follow when you are grieving. Even members of the one family who are mourning the loss of the same person, will show their grief in diverse ways.

This happens because individuals are affected by things like:

• Personality 
• How you cope with stress
• Communicating Emotions  
• The relationship you had with the person
• The circumstances under which the death occurred
• The support you have around you 
• Personal issues which may be brought to the surface at this time

Some common grief reactions include:

• Crying (I can’t cry or will I ever stop crying)
• Anger (It’s not fair)
• Relief (I’m glad the suffering is over)
• Shock (I can’t take it in)
• Numbness (My body seems to be on ‘auto pilot’)
• Guilt (If only I could turn the clock back)
• Frustration (Why don’t people understand me
• Panic (How will I cope)
• Depression (I don’t care anymore)
• Fear (What if I can’t cope)
• Low Energy (I’m too tired)
• Confusion (I can’t think straight)
• Rejection (How could they do this to me)
• Emptiness (I feel like something is always missing)

Grief usually does not last forever - even though at first, grieving people may believe
“I’ll never get over this”. The length of time the grieving process takes will vary from person to person, and in a family situation this variation can cause tension. Grief is a very important thing! Each of us grieves in our own way over different periods of time.