The Courageous Art of Supporting Someone in Grief (At Any Age)
by Angie Lucas
Aug 14, 2019
5 minutes
A children’s book author shares some practical ways we can show up differently for grief — our own and that of others
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As a culture, we’re not great at supporting the grieving, to say the least. We don’t know what to say. We don’t know what to do. We feel helpless, inadequate, ill-equipped. And as much as we say, I can’t imagine what you’re going through, I don’t think that’s true.
We can imagine it. And it terrifies us.
It’s our terror that makes us ask, “was she a smoker?” when we find out someone has died of lung cancer or “was he an addict?” when we hear of a suicide. If we can assign the teensiest trace of blame, we can soothe ourselves into thinking we’ll avoid a similar fate — for us or our loved ones.
It’s our terror that makes us say things to a grieving person that are really feel better.
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