Alexandra Niel explores why grief doesn't follow a timeline and how people often lose friendships after bereavement. She argues that finding peers who've experienced similar loss, creating safe spaces to talk, and having people who sit with you rather than rush you through grief makes all the difference.
You need to surround yourself with the right people because your community, as much as they want to try to support you, it almost feels like there's a timeline on grief. Perception is that you grieve, you get over it, you move on. Because when— for— with the women that I talk to, sometimes not only do they lose their friends, but they also lose their family. And then they've got nowhere to go. Being able to find again your peeps, right? And the people that, whether it's people who have gone through the same experience you have, so they understand and you can share. And by sharing together, little by little, you're able to dismantle it and let it go. But having that safe space to share, to express, to talk to others about really what you need and to honor that space for yourself and to hold that space also for others. It's critical to not feel like you're alone, but again, you want to make sure that you have people in your corner that are going to be on this journey with you, but not push you through that journey.
