How can grief affect your life?

Grief is a natural and normal response to loss. Although loss is universal people's experience is individual. Grief is experienced after we lose something or someone we care about. It may be the death of someone, the loss of a relationship or job or an intangible loss such as loss of hopes and dreams.

Grief can affect many domains of our lives including feelings, thoughts, behaviours, physical well being, social environment and spiritual or worldview of life. You may experience feelings such as sadness, isolation, disbelief, irritability, anxiety or emptiness. Thoughts such as "Why me?", "it's not fair" and "I can't focus" may run through your mind. You may experience headaches, stomach upsets, chronic pain as grief can impact our bodies. If you are experiencing a loss you may start to challenge your beliefs or assumptive world view as life is now very different to what you thought may have happened. In your social or professional world you may be experiencing role-changes or life may seem unfulfilling. You may be pleased by the social support you get or you disappointed by the lack of support you are receiving.

All of these experiences are normal for the losses experienced in life and we can learn to grow around grief in time and integrate loss into our lives.

How is grief impacting your life currently or how has it impacted you in the past?