10/09/2026
There Is No Right or Wrong Way to Grieve
There is a particular kind of loneliness in grief that comes not only from losing someone, but from having others constantly measure how we live with that loss.
Some need company; others need solitude. Some find comfort in memories, while others need time and space. None of these responses is wrong. Grief is as individual as the love that came before it.
We should never have to justify our pain or heal according to someone else’s timeline. A smile does not mean we have forgotten, a good day does not mean we have moved on, and falling apart does not mean we are failing.
Perhaps the kindest thing we can offer is not advice, but understanding. The freedom to have good days without guilt, difficult days without shame and absolute freedom to grieve in our own unique way.
We cannot know the depth of someone's sorrow simply by looking at them. We cannot see the memories they carry, the moments that catch them off guard or the quiet battles they fight when nobody else is watching.
There is no right or wrong way to grieve someone who was such an integral part of our lives. Some losses change the entire shape of our world.
Perhaps, in time, we learn to carry the love and the loss together, finding our own way forward, one day at a time, at our own pace and in our own precious time.
~ 'There Is No Right or Wrong Way to Grieve' by Spirit of a Hippie
✍️ Mary Anne Byrne
"If you can't understand why someone is grieving so much, for so long, then consider yourself fortunate."
~ Dr. Joanne Cacciatore
~ Art by Bee.Succeed Bee.Succeed.
