I once made someone laugh when I told them that grief was my favourite emotion to work with. I did not intent to make them laugh. It was an honest statement. Grief, and loss, encompass so many life experiences, it is impossible to encounter someone who has not experienced some for of grief.
Grief, to me, is the heaviest emotion. The one that gets deep into my bones. Generally when I feel big emotions I make art about them. For me, grief is a heavy one, and one way to help ease the heaviness of the feeling, is to externalize it.
As a death doula, I actively choose to sit with people and their grief. In all hits heaviness. I make space for the feels. In doing so, I hope to shed something onto their darkness. Grief is universal. Not a single person in the world will be saved from experiencing this feeling.
At times I notice people shy away from feelings things. Maybe its because at times they are unbearable.
In my practice, we sit with the unbearable. We dissect and reflex on its parts and its entirety.
We will never be the same. We change permanently. We establish a new normal.
There is no going back.
Grief is the price we pay for loving someone big” Grief is love.
This is grief. Don’t let it destroy you.