How to Live with Loss
Many people search for this in the middle of the night:
How do I get over this?
How do I move on?
How do I make this stop hurting?
The truth is, grief is not something you get over. It’s something you learn to live with.
In the Beginning, Grief Can Take Over Everything
In the first few days, weeks, and even months following the death of a loved one, grief often feels overwhelming. It can impact:
Your sleep
Your focus
Your relationships
Your work
Your sense of identity
Your ability to plan for the future
It can feel like grief is touching every part of your life at once. When you're feeling that it’s common to want relief and fast.
As you move forward, grief often looks and feels different. It may not dominate every moment of your day. The waves may become less constant. You may find ways to function, to laugh again, to engage in life. That doesn’t mean the grief is gone.
It means you are growing around it.
Some people describe it this way: your grief doesn’t necessarily shrink, but your life begins to expand. You grow bigger than your grief. There is more room inside you for joy, connection, purpose, and memory alongside the pain.
The love is still there. The loss is still real. But it isn’t consuming every breath.
So What Actually Helps?
You don’t “get over” a loss by forcing yourself to move on. You learn to live with it by:
Developing coping skills for when waves hit
Rebuilding routines and structure
Learning how to talk about your grief
Finding ways to stay connected to the person who died
Allowing both hard emotions and moments of relief
This is the kind of practical, real-life approach we focus on inside the GRIEF Ladies Facebook Community, a place where people share what it’s really like to live with loss and support one another through it.
There is no deadline for healing. There is no requirement to “be done” with your grief. Learning to live with loss is a gradual process. And it’s okay if you’re still in the part where it feels heavy. You are not behind. You are grieving.
