When you are starting your grieving, feelings of sadness can be totally overwhelming and fill your thoughts for most of the day. These feelings are very raw. It takes differing amounts of time to move away from that rawness depending on many factors. We are all unique with regard to how we process these feelings and how long it may take.

Sadness surrounds us when we are bereaved. It overwhelms us and leaves little room for other thoughts.  You may feel set apart, having very different experiences to those around you. You may feel overwhelming loneliness and emptiness after your loss, with the thought of the days and nights ahead causing great distress.  These feelings of sadness are so strong and painful in the early days of loss.

You deeply miss the person whom you are grieving for and the sadness you feel is a physical soreness.  It is hard to cope on a day-to-day basis.  Some people have a supportive network around them who deal with the everyday trivia, so leaving time to grieve. Others may have the demands of family life and running a job and/or a household, which leaves little time to examine feelings.  

There is no one easy path through grief.  To lose someone you love and care for is traumatic and will generate very strong feelings which are hard to deal with.  It is necessary to give yourself time to slowly come to terms with what has happened.  Be honest about what you are feeling.  It helps if you can share your thoughts with others.  It lets you know that you are not alone on your journey. 

The bereavement will also have caused impact to your family/friends. Everyone finds different ways through their sadness. Some people need to talk it all through and share.  Some people go for long walks to try and process this complex wilderness you have entered.  It helps to write down how you are feeling, whether it is thoughts of sadness, anger, isolation.  This moves some of the raw emotion out of your head unto paper helping you to process a little each time. 

With time the worst of the rawness begins to settle and you can gradually focus on the joy that the person brought to your life.  You will never forget them, but you can slowly approach your memories so that you get some comfort from them rather than agonising pain.