It is not uncommon to hear people talking about grief like it is an illness one will “get over” or some kind of irritant that will pass with time. I can’t stand that attitude! To some people it even seems like a philosophy of life that blabbers, “Yes, grief will enter our lives but it will pass, we will get ‘over it” and life will go on,you will move forward. Once you “recover” you will be able to join the human race again!” This is how my mind hears and processes a view like that. It isn’t worth giving attention too, no matter how common it may be.

Grief cannot be treated like an illness or a depression. Grief is real! It is a longing of the soul for things to be as they once were, it is a yearning for life to be as it once was yet also knowing this can never be. Grief indicates life will never be the same again.

In the context of Scarred Joy grief relates to that sense of “loss” that results from the death of a loved one, or divorce (death of a marriage), or the death of a dear pet, or a sense of violation that is a result of a violent attack like rape, or dare I say it, the death of one’s child or children, or experiencing or witnessing another type of life crushing trauma.  Something inside you changes forever.

It is amazing that people go on living in spite of life altering suffering. Perhaps you have experienced something horrible something that has stopped you in your tracks although time has moved on.  You may realize however that you have survived. I hope you have discovered that you are amazing as well.