There’s More to Grief Than Sadness

There are no happy endings. 

Endings are the saddest part. 

So just give me a happy middle, 

And a very happy start. 

—Shel Silverstein, author

My experience of grieving showed me that grief is more than sorrow and sadness. Writing for medium.com, psychologist, Nick Wignall, concurs. “By limiting our grief exclusively to sadness, we end up invalidating the emotionally complex nature of grief. While sadness is often a large or even dominant part of our emotional reaction to loss, it’s almost never the only one.”

As I interviewed daughters who were grieving the loss of their mothers, I recognized emotions as wide-ranging as anger, disappointment, fear, anxiety, and, yes, even joy and thankfulness for what their mothers meant in their lives. 

Affirmation: I can grieve in many ways.

Coaching questions: What emotions show up for you when you’re in the process of grieving? How do you acknowledge and validate your wide range of emotions? 

Photo by Ellieelien on Unsplash