What is Grief?
Grief is the human response to losing someone who was important to you. The pain of loss is universal, but what you feel will not be exactly the same as what someone else feels.

Grief is not something we “get over,” or even “heal from.” It is not an illness. It’s a journey.

Am I Normal?
While grief is natural, it is also highly individual. How a person grieves depends on a number of factors. Your relationship with the person who died will certainly influence your grief, but so will your age, your religious beliefs and your previous experiences with death. The age of the deceased and the circumstances of death will also affect the intensity of your grief.

Many reactions to the death of a loved one are very common. Feel like you’ve been hit with a truck? You’re “normal.” Every part of your being will be affected in some way. A few examples include:

PHYSICAL REACTIONS: fatigue, sleep disturbances, muscular tension, lower immune system, tightness in chest/throat, no taste for food, etc.

EMOTIONAL REACTIONS: anger, guilt, relief, anxiety, shock, despair, hopelessness

BEHAVIORAL REACTIONS: feeling detached, withdrawal, blaming, crying, sighing

SPIRITUAL REACTIONS: search for meaning, anger at God/others, loss of ideals/beliefs, loss of reason to live, feeling the presence of the deceased

There’s Help!
The staff at Farley-Estes & Dowdle can provide you or your loved ones with information and other resources.

Links to other sources of grief support:

Adults
www.aarp.org/griefandloss
www.webhealing.com
www.hospicefoundation.org
www.adultsiblinggrief.com

Children
www.misschildren.org
www.compassionatefriends.org

Infants
www.nationalshareoffice.com

Suicide
www.road2healing.com

Armed Forces
www.taps.org