If we lose someone we love - a partner, a parent, a child, relative, friend or a much-loved pet – we feel grief.
We feel grief when we lose something of ourselves - perhaps our health, a job or activity, or being able to walk, run and move - and we can grieve over lost opportunities.
Grieving is a very personal experience. People may say, "I know what you're going through' because they had a similar loss to you, but their experience will be different to yours.
Grief doesn't have a timetable. It takes as long as it takes, and it comes and goes. There’s no one-size-fits-all way of dealing with it but there are ways you can look after yourself.
Understanding the emotions and feelings of grief may help.
Grief can bring with it a range of emotions and physical feelings. They may not come at once, and you might not experience all of them.
These feelings may come over a long, or short, period of time, and take time to work through. Knowing that it’s normal to feel this way, and allowing yourself to let those emotions out, can make you feel better.