There isn\u2019t a proper way to grieve death, especially the unexpected loss of such a young and beautiful life. You don\u2019t get over it, but you can get through it with lots of help from others. Barbra Streisand\u2019s right: people who need people are really some of the luckiest people. And I count myself as one of the lucky ones.<\/p>\n
Here is the opening to Krystie’s piece… I highly encourage you to click on at the end and continue reading over at Thought Catalog to see just a few of the many many ways People need People…<\/p>\n
Something happens when someone you care about dies \u2014 someone whose heart, mind, and spirit left Earth far too long before they were supposed to, someone you expected to know until he turned into a gray, old man who would still crack jokes and make you laugh, someone you never imagined having a final conversation with or who you would have to attend memorials for, someone whose smile could \u2014 and did \u2014 light up a whole room, someone you never thought you\u2019d have to see in a casket, let alone as a 22-year-old.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Something happens to your heart: it hurts so much that you convince yourself that you don\u2019t need anyone else, and for the time being you\u2019d rather be isolated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You stay away from anything and everything that reminds you of him because you think it\u2019ll be less painful that way. You don\u2019t drive by places that you went to together. You don\u2019t say his name or talk about him and the memories you shared. You don\u2019t want to forget but you don\u2019t really want to remember, either.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You\u2019d prefer to skip your birthday when it comes around because you don\u2019t understand why you get to celebrate another year of life when he no longer has that luxury. You don\u2019t reach out for help and keep most of your thoughts, feelings, and tears to yourself.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t want to say, \u201cI love you\u201d to people because you think they\u2019ll either die or break your heart or both. You don\u2019t want to let new people in because they\u2019ll just die someday, too. What if you let someone else in and they can\u2019t be there for you the way you need them to be, or worse, what if you can\u2019t be there for them? You think it\u2019ll be easier to just keep to yourself and sustain surface level relationships with acquaintances than get emotionally involved to the point of heartbreak.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In a way, it makes sense that you want to shut down. You want to protect your heart from ever feeling this kind of sorrow again. The closer you get (and stay) to the people in your life, the more likely it is this can happen all over again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s what you do \u2014 rather, what you think you\u2019re doing. You think you\u2019re shutting people out, distancing yourself from others, and intentionally failing at communicating. You think you\u2019re grieving all on your own.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But then something else happens: along the way, you realize you haven\u2019t successfully closed yourself off from people or shut down from the rest of the world. As it turns out, the rest of the world has been sustaining you all along \u2014 the very people you tried to reject are actually the ones getting you through the pain.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Click here to keep reading<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>