Your Fingerprint of Grief.
Do not compare your grief to others. It was built in the shape of you.
Grief is a fingerprint. Individual, slightly scarred, and, if you look closely, full of depth, nuance and swirling patterns moving in all directions.
Different timelines.
Different traumas.
Different ways of coping.
Special to you and only you.
Trying to heal in the standard well plotted out way, given to us by academia and well meaning professionals, is next to impossible. Yes, those grief frameworks can be there for reference, but they are only tools.
Never force yourself to grieve in a manner that does not feel intuitively like the path you are meant to be on. Talk about your losses, don’t talk about them, tell your stories or keep those stories to yourself, cry when and how you want to. Put up photos, don’t put up photos, keep their possessions for years, give them away in a week. It is up to YOU, and only you.
If you feel judged during your journey- put that noise out of your head. Those who judge are generally well meaning, but they may be projecting their discomfort onto you.
Your pace. Your memories. Your heart. Your fingerprint of grief.
{Interested in learning about Grief at Your Own Pace ? My course on moving through grief is available now! Grief at Your Own Pace}