Perhaps you’ve heard the saying that “grief is love with nowhere to go”. This seems to perfectly capture the essence of what happens when we lose a loved one. That love doesn’t die with them, it remains with us. The problem is it no longer has a home the way it did when that person (or pet or place or thing) was with us. We suddenly have to find a new way to navigate life with a little bit less than we had before. While this is incredibly sad and painful, I also see loss as an opportunity. It is an opportunity to take inventory of your life. In the time when loss already creates a hole, you can re-evaluate and re-prioritize the many other aspects of life. Maybe you will find a way to re-arrange some things. Maybe you will notice some things you have been holding on to that are no longer healthy or beneficial for you. Maybe you will see the space to add in some things that wouldn’t fit before. During this time though, be kind to yourself. There is no right or wrong way to do grief and loss. There is only the best you can do on any given day, and that is really all you can ever ask of yourself.

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Arielle is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Florida and Georgia, as well as an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. She specializes in working with anxiety, depression, and relationship concerns.