Why can some move on from grief while others are left in its wake for years or even a lifetime?

Human biologist Paul Shephard states, “The grief and sense of loss, that we often interpret as a failure in our personality, is actually a feeling of emptiness where a beautiful and strange otherness should have been encountered.”

With our unrelenting determination as a society to constantly move forward, grieving often is deemed unacceptable, out of control, or too emotional for a society that expects people to pick themselves right back up – be exactly what they were before – within days of suffering a loss. What is left is a person who pushes everything inward, trying to cope alone as they wonder why they can’t sleep or function as they used to, suffering silently under the weight of intense sorrow. So, why do we ignore our grief and suffering?

Instead of being alone, this is a time, more than ever that we need community and connection.