by Helen Fitzgerald, CDE

Grief is what you experience when you have suffered a loss. "Loss" is the key word here because grief not only applies to the way you feel after the death of a loved one but also to the way you feel whenever you suffer the loss of something valuable to you. For example, grief often follows a divorce, separation or breakup of a relationship, loss through fire or theft, loss of a job, the shattering of a life-long dream, the loss of one's youth, loss of control, the loss of one's role as a parent when children leave home, and the loss of one's health, eyesight or hearing. In looking at and understanding grief in a broader sense, you may be grieving for something almost your entire lifetime. Fortunately, the grief you experience over your many losses differs in intensity and longevity.