Your Grief Doesn't Just Change You. It Changes Your Relationships, Too.
Grief isn't a road trip. It's a rocket to another planet.
When my mother died in 2017, I had no idea what doors it would unlock. I knew things would change, but there was no telling how much. Death is funny like that. It’s the lifting of a veil. Once you see what’s beyond the blur, there’s no going back. To kiss death, even peripherally, is to wake up in a different reality. My mom’s death changed my reality, and it especially changed my relationship with the people around me.
Grief changes those who experience it. From the inside out, you are forced to face new truths, new aspects of yourself, and a new way of living that you never dreamed of before.
When my mom was wrenched from me, it blew a hole in the side of my life. I had spent 27+ years being stuck in a painfully codependent relationship with her. I couldn’t comprehend existing without here and there, hovering over my life. As I healed from it, I realized who my mother was. More than that, I was forced to face all the other dysfunctional connections I was fostering in my life.
Your grief may do that, too. It may push you to the brink and make you look around and ask, “What happened? Who are these people?” That’s a scary place to be, but it’s inevitable. Your role in the whole process is to arm yourself with knowledge and hold on tight.