Grief is a Ball in a Box
(tbh i'm just gonna copy and paste from here but this is truly one of the best ways to look at grief and understand how it works)
Grief is a pain button in a box with a ball.
In the early stages, the ball is very big. You cannot move the ball without it frequently hitting the pain button. It rattles around on its own in there and hits the button over and over again, sometimes so much that it feels like you can’t stop it – you can’t control it – it just keeps hurting.
But as time goes on, the ball gets smaller. It doesn’t disappear completely and when it hits the pain button, it’s just as intense, but generally, it is easier to get through each day.
So please understand. In a week, in a month, in a year, you might be reminded of your grief and it might hurt just as bad as it did when you first heard the news. The goal with healing grief isn't to never not feel sad again. That unfortunately is not likely to happen. The goal is that the ball gets smaller so you don't hit that pain button as much.
