“There’s a groundlessness in life after loss, as if somebody is pulling the rug out from under you again and again. It’s hard to find anything stable and secure to stand on, and when you do, there’s always the fear that it’s going to be taken away. Know that this sense of not having legs to stand on is completely normal and is a very real sensation brought on by loss. It’s not pleasant by any means—in fact, it can be downright terrifying—but it is an expected part of grief.”
Source: Your Grief, Your Way: A Year of Practical Guidance and Comfort After Loss
“Contrary to many societal teachings, there is no conquering grief. It’s impossible to “win” at an emotional experience like loss, because grief is not that kind of game. The object of grief is not to make the grief go away, but to expand your heart to make room for it. When you live with an expanded heart, there is room for you and your grief to exist side by side.”
Source: Your Grief, Your Way: A Year of Practical Guidance and Comfort After Loss
“Grief is unpredictable, and that’s exactly how it should be. If you feel like you’re stuck on a roller coaster or caught up in an unnavigable storm, you are not alone. I often think of grief like a slot machine. Each day I wake up, the dials turn, the combinations of emotions and experiences go round and round, and the wheels stop at whatever strange combination I’m about to experience that day. No two grief days are alike . . . and that’s normal.”
Source: Your Grief, Your Way: A Year of Practical Guidance and Comfort After Loss
“No one can tell you what your grief means. You are the only person who decides what meaning, if any, should be assigned to the death of your loved one. While well-meaning friends and family will have their own interpretations of the role of loss in your life, it is up to you and only you to decide what it all means.”
Source: Your Grief, Your Way: A Year of Practical Guidance and Comfort After Loss
“Continuing to live does not mean consenting to forget. You are not a bucket with a limited capacity. No, you are an ever-changing container with the amazing ability to accommodate not only your life and your love, but the life and love of the person who died. It is possible to hold many, many lost loved ones in one body and still keep trudging forward. Progress does not mean leaving your loved ones behind. It means taking them with you and keeping them alongside you for the remainder of your ride.”
Source: Your Grief, Your Way: A Year of Practical Guidance and Comfort After Loss
“She knew it would feel terrible to remember, too, but sometimes good and terrible could coexist, right?”
Source: The End and Other Beginnings: Stories from the Future – A Masterful Illustrated Sci-Fi Anthology for Teens about Friendship, Hope, and Technology
“Have you ever seen a big dog, tied with rope? You might think, 'Why doesn't it just bite off the leash and go free? It can, it is big enough.' But the dog never will because it never thinks to.”
Source: The Last Black Dragon
“Silence falls for a moment. And then the evening continues, as it must.”
Source: A Song Inside: A heartbreaking and uplifting memoir about love and loss
“The people we lose never truly leave, but that only we get to define how they stay.”
Source: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
“I went into the room and stayed with Catherine until she died. She was unconscious all the time, and it did not take her very long to die.”
Source: A Farewell to Arms