Even though the weight of my grief is present all the time, it can feel like others around me don’t realize this, which is a difficult reality to acknowledge. I sometimes wonder how often, in my past, others around me were suffering the same way I do now, and I was oblivious. When my own mother and father dealt with the loss of an infant, then parents and their own adult son—all the pain they went through…I wasn’t unfeeling about it at the time, but just wasn’t able to comprehend the grief they carried for the rest of their lives. It wasn’t till my own dear son left for Heaven that I bore and understood the true weight of grief.
Grief can be a lonely journey, most likely because of the lack of education we are given. If we grew up with teaching about death and dying, and the weight of grief, in a caring environment, our own future experiences might be less unbearable. If one is in a church growing up, the subjects might not be so taboo. After all, isn’t it the business of most religions to prepare their congregation for eternity?
If we can discuss death and dying as a normal, every day topic, it will no doubt help us support the bereaved in a better way, and it will also help us feel less alone when the time of sorrow arises in our own lives. I am sorry now that I wasn’t more supportive of those who were hurting, before I really understood grief, but we can only work with what we are taught. May we strive to take the weight of grief, not be afraid to discuss it and our beloved departed. and make it normal!
The article below helped me with these thoughts today.