Recently, u/liv500 asked "how has grief changed your life?" and we decided to round up some of the most popular answers:
1. "I feel like I've lost the carefree soul I had before the grief came."
2. "Grief has shown me just how deep love is, just how nuanced and beautiful emotions can be."
"Grief is the receipt you’re left with after making the final purchase of love."
3. "I have planned everything for if/when I die. Just in case. Life has taught me I may have 40 more years, and I may not."
4. "I'm constantly catastrophising and getting intrusive thoughts/visions of myself and my loved ones dying in various ways."
5. "No one ever told me that it divides your life in half. Before and after."
6. "Grief has taught me that love and pain can coexist. And that it’s ok to cry and have bad days. I’m a lot stronger than I have ever known. I also cry a lot more for small reasons."
7. "I am always worried each goodbye is the last goodbye. But I'm also determined to enjoy the time I have no matter what, and to tell the people in my life that I love them. Not just that, but WHY I love them. I don’t think we hear the why enough."
8. "I make up eulogies for loved ones in my head."
"It just seems a lot more present in my life now, the idea of dying. I used to just assume I'd die of old age and everyone in my life would too, but reality has made me a lot more wary of how little time we could have."
9. "I try to never leave someone when we're angry. I tend to be more chill about things that happen, because it's just nothing compared to someone dying."
10. "It changed me to not tolerate things that hurt me, to still be kind but have many more boundaries."
11. "I do what I want when I’m able to. I’m spending more money investing the experience of travel and things that make me happy, at least while not trying to break too much bank."
12. "Grief gave me a chance to really examine myself and the life I live. To see what I value most. To give love more deeply. To allow myself to receive more love."
13. "I appreciate and welcome ageing, try to at least. Grey hairs and wrinkles are easy, the pains I will complain about. Not everyone gets to age and see their bodies change."
14. "I’m nowhere near the same person I used to be. I’m more calm and calculated, I took my professional life very seriously and left behind every piece of who I was so I didn’t sink."
15. "I see life through a lens that accepts darkness, sadness and a depth that is only known once grief is experienced. Before, I had rose tinted glasses on."
16. "I'm grateful for the mundane moments like watching a movie with a loved one, chatting over wine with my best friend, walking my dog in nature."
H/T to u/liv500 and AskWomen for having this discussion!
Note: All submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Do you have anything else to add? Let us know in the comments below.
Additional thumbnail credits: Nickelodeon / Getty Images / Fox / TLC