Warning: Grief Side-Effects May Include Building Emotional Walls

Understanding Grief / Understanding Grief : Litsa Williams



For further articles on these topics:


"Grief is the price we pay for love".   ~ Queen Elizabeth

Until you lose someone, you may not really “get” the love-grief connection thing.  Or you maybe get it intellectually, but you don’t get it emotionally.  Then one day it hits you like a ton of bricks. You realize that when you love someone so deeply and entirely, losing that person means losing pieces of yourself, and it means your world-shattering.  Grief is in many ways the price we pay for love, they do grow from the same seeds, and as beautiful as that can sound, in especially dark moments that connection can be dangerous.

On your worst days the realization that the source of the deepest, most unimaginable pain you have ever felt is there because you loved someone so deeply, can be scary.  Really really scary.  It means that any deep love you experience can also be the source of deep pain and loss.  It is human nature to avoid and protect ourselves from pain, so what are we supposed to do when we realize that opening ourselves to love means opening ourselves up to pain?

For some of us, the self-protective instinct kicks in and suddenly, standing in the rubble of grief and loss, we just want to protect ourselves from every feeling pain like this again. So we start stacking that rubble up around us until we've built a wall. It is a wall built on the sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious, thought: "If grief is the price we pay for love, it isn't a price I am willing to pay."

Distancing yourself from love can take different shapes, but some common experiences are:

1. Distancing yourself from the people who are already in your life that you love and care about.
2. You refuse to open myself up to new people, for fear you will ultimately just end up being hurt.
3. You detach from the world around you in general, becoming emotionally numb to avoid setting yourself up to care about something and lose it.

It is human nature to avoid pain, so no judgment if this is something that has been part of your grief.  It doesn't impact everyone, but it certainly impacts some.  If you realize love can, down the road, be a source of not just a little pain, but A LOT of pain, it is no surprise you may develop an instinct to avoid love.  Just reading those words – “avoid love” – is hopefully an indication of why these emotional walls can be problematic.  Yes, they emotionally protect you from grief.  But they also keep you from having connections, intimacy, hope, joy, and so many other things that make life meaningful.  So what’s a griever to do?

Address Emotional Walls

Tactic One: Remember, it doesn't have to be all or nothing.

You can take it slow.  For example, after losing a baby (or sometimes multiple babies) to miscarriage or stillbirth, it isn't uncommon to build a wall and say "I am never trying again" from a place of self-protection.  If you have decided to look at walls you may have built, it doesn't mean overnight saying, okay, I am going to try to get pregnant again.  It may mean saying, I am going to open myself to the idea or possibility.  I am not going to say "I will try", I am not going to say "I will not try".  Instead, I will not rule anything out, I will do some self-reflection and slowly ease into decisions on how to move forward to make sure they are not part of a problematic emotional wall.

Tactic Two: Address avoidance.

Sometimes you don’t even realize you have been avoiding people, places, or things. Addressing avoidance requires a little self-assessment.  If you have been creating distance between people and things that were meaningful to you before your loss, take some time to reflect on what that is all about.  It isn't always about an emotional wall, but it can be, so it is important spending some time with the idea.

Keep in mind, avoidance doesn’t always mean you have cut everyone out of your life and are spending all your time alone.  Sometimes we swap out inner-circle people, who we love and care about most, for acquaintances.   This can be a protective way of having contact but with people who feel "safer" because they do not require you to be as vulnerable to love and potential loss.

Tactic Three: Be mindful of making radical relationship changes quickly. 

I was in a fairly serious, but relatively new relationship when my dad died.  I found my journal from that time recently and read through many thoughts I had about ending the relationship despite the fact that it was a wonderful and supportive relationship.  As I peeled through the layers trying to figure out what was going on, I realized that the thought that I might also lose this person was too much to handle.  It felt safer to end the relationship on my own terms at that moment to control my hurt, rather than get further emotionally invested and risk greater hurt. I am very grateful now I worked through that and didn't end the relationship, but it was definitely an emotional wall I was trying to build.  Even without ending the relationship I did still create an emotional distance that took some time to resolve.

Sometimes grief gives us a new lens to see the world.  Sometimes that means we see relationships, friendships, jobs, priorities differently and we make changes for the better.  But sometimes it is the fear and anxiety lens pushing us to close ourselves off from people or things we actually deeply care about.  It is important to look closely and do a lot of self-assessment about what is going on when you have that inclination to make big emotional changes after a loss.

Tactic Four: Acknowledge the reality of potential loss and hurt.  

Now, you may be screaming, I KNOW the potential for loss and hurt, I have gone through it, and that's what brought me here!  But when we build these walls we don't always consciously realize we are doing it to mitigate our anxiety about future pain and loss.  Facing that thought head on and considering the reality of grief and loss is part of being vulnerable and taking steps towards opening back up.  We can't avoid these anxieties because they will keep creeping up, so at some point, we must consciously face them. If you try to face these anxieties and find yourself stuck, this may be an important reason to see a counselor.

Tactic Five: Learn tools for coping with anxiety.

No surprise, coping with anxiety and fear around experiencing hurt again is an important part of opening yourself back up and tearing down emotional walls.  There are lots of general tools and techniques.  We have a post on grief and anxiety here.  But if this is a significant issue for you, seeing a counselor can make a big difference in learning specific coping tools that will work well for you.

Tactic Six: Acknowledge what you are missing.

It is easy to feel like it is safer to stay protected inside the safety of your emotional walls and ignore all the things you may be missing on the other side.  To find the inspiration, motivation, and hope required to take a risk and push yourself outside those walls, it is important to consider what is out there that you are missing by closing yourself off.  Especially in the early days of grief, it can feel like none of those things are worth the potential pain of loss.  But as time goes on, you find ways to manage anxiety, and you reflect on things you may be missing through avoidance and emotional walls, it can start to feel easier.  You can slowly begin to open yourself up to love and hope, even with the knowledge that from the same seeds that grow love, grief may someday grow.

Have you dealt with building emotional walls?  Leave a comment with questions or to share how you have coped with this! 

We wrote a book!

After writing online articles for What’s Your Grief
for over a decade, we finally wrote a tangible,
real-life book!

After writing online articles for What’s Your Grief for over a decade, we finally wrote a tangible, real-life book!

What’s Your Grief? Lists to Help you Through Any Loss is for people experiencing any type of loss. This book discusses some of the most common grief experiences and breaks down psychological concepts to help you understand your thoughts and emotions. It also shares useful coping tools, and helps the reader reflect on their unique relationship with grief and loss.

You can find What’s Your Grief? Lists to Help you Through Any Loss wherever you buy books:

Let’s be grief friends.

We post a new article to What’s Your Grief about once a week. Subscribe to stay up to date on all our posts.

Related Blog Posts

Related Blog Posts

See More

32 Comments on "Warning: Grief Side-Effects May Include Building Emotional Walls"

Click here to leave a Comment
  1. Robert  December 27, 2021 at 7:16 pm Reply

    My life long best friend died in 2018 at the age of 29.

    Losing him broke my mind, my heart, and my soul.
    I became so distraught and depressed I completely fell out of love with the girl I loved and wanted to marry.
    I was just so full of anger , torment and sadness I couldn’t think about anything with a clear mind.
    I no longer have a emotional connection with anything or anyone. I’m completely numb. Despair and regret are the only things I feel.

    1
  2. Jane  December 2, 2020 at 6:52 pm Reply

    Today I have had the realisation I am dealing with grief. I am now 38 and my life has been a rollercoaster of learning and personal growth over the last 2 years.
    After a 13 year relationship I left my best friend because we had grown in differant directions and I was not happy. After 6 months of finding anything to take my mind off the mental and physical sensations that were to follow I found myself in a 5 year relationship with someone I shared no emotional intimacy with and could be extremely cruel.
    The last 2 years have consisted of a string of failed short term relationships, learning to strengthen my mind and reaching for greater under standing of myself. I’ve been on a search for love and acceptance that was hardly even matching up since I was devoid of emotional intimacy. My pain was coming from a loss of attachment. If someone started to show any emotional connection I would make a mess and the budding relationship would end. In the last week I agreed to date two people that my intuition told me were not right for me, then broke it off within 24hrs, I normally hold on till the bitter end! I realised that I may have an issue with Emotional Intimacy a few months back after the end of a relationship that I am struggling with the loss of to this day.
    Now what part of this is actually about grief?
    I realised I never grieved my original 13 year relationship, or the 5 year relationship, or any subsequent relationships. Instead every breakup has started to take a piece of me that I now realise is spilling over into my relationships with friends, coworkers and acquittances. I always thought this feeling was base level anxiety until until my psychologist mentioned a feeling grief while in conversation yesterday.
    Now I have an understanding that I loved my best friend so deeply that I never recovered from a decision I made 8 years ago. When I have looked to find the same love elsewhere I could never give it a chance due to my emotional wall growing larger and more fortified every loss I endured.
    Now I realise I must undertake the process of grieving to help heal myself and not hurt other people around me.

    I would like to thank Litsa Williams for writing an article that has given me some understanding of what I’m going through.

    2
    • IsabelleS  December 3, 2020 at 12:11 pm Reply

      Jane, thank you for taking the time to comment and to share your story! It sounds like you are taking steps in the right direction, and that you have a lot of self-insight. I am happy to hear that you have the support of a psychologist throughout this process. Congratulations on all of your tremendous work towards healing!

  3. Christi James  January 15, 2020 at 5:54 pm Reply

    My mom passed away Feb 9, 2017, four days after my 43rd bday.. I spent my bday with her in the hospital, which was the last day/night she was awake and coherent.. I realized that night, I was going to lose her now too, (my dad passed away August 15th 1991..) I fell apart when my dad passed away from lung cancer when I was only 17.. He had been my super hero, my strength, my security, my everything, and when he died a HUGE part of myself died with him.. I have never fully recovered from the chaos and turmoil of his passing..So when my mom passed away a couple years ago, it ripped open those wounds.. and that horrible feeling came flooding back in and wiped out every ounce of happiness it had taken me 26ys to slowly gain.. I was a mess. I felt abandoned and alone all over again. Both of the people in my life that gave me life, and loved me unconditionally, and that were there for me no matter what, were gone.. The pain I felt was so much more than I can describe. I lost such a huge part of myself when they both died.. I had this horrible emptiness inside. I was alone, and no one else knew me like my mom and dad, but my soul sister.. She is the only other person in my life that has never let me down.. we built a true sisterhood most people only dream of having.. she has been my best friend since 1993 . We have had our ups and down, no relationship is perfect, but she has been an amazing sister to me, and auntie to my kids. Anyone who has had the opportunity to have her in their life, is beyond blessed. 10 yrs ago she had to have a kidney transplant, and things were okay until I guess about 2 years ago. Around the time my mom passed away, she has been getting sick. In and out of the hospital. I guess that’s when I started pulling away, distancing myself and pulling away.. I guess in a way protecting my heart. I went and saw her about 6 months ago. And it tore me up inside to see her Ill and sick and not the vibrant girl I was so close to and the beautiful spunky sister who was my right hand man. It’s hard to explain the bond we had, the connection and love we had between us.. and here I was finding myself pulling away. I didn’t want to see her like tht. I know it sounds really selfish in a way.. but I wasnt sure I could handle it.. everyone talked crap because I didn’t go visit her but the one time, and she hasn’t talked to me since then, but part of me thinks it’s better if I don’t see her again..and just let things go from here. If i go see her again.my heart will be weak again, and my feelings will be vulnerable again..i dont know if i can handle another person close to me , dying. Especially not her.. I forgot to mention that my niece passed away 1 yrs after my mom. That too was a great loss.. I helped raise my niece. Me and my mom did.. so that was such a devastating time. So I am raw inside. I’m emotionally unstable.. I’ve barely been able to hold it together.. so I’ve chose to put my wall up. Not go see my best friend, while she’s dying in the hospital.. . She was mad at me starting a couple months ago. Because I haven’t been there for her like she has me. I’ve tried to explain to her, to my kids. But everyone says I’m selfish. And in a way I guess I am. I dont know if I can handle the heartache I’m going To feel when she passes. And if I go see her, hug her, talk to her right now, I know my My heart will be open again, and more vulnerable to “FEELING”…In a way I feel like as long as I stay away and I dont see her, talk to her, hear her voice, look in her eyes,nothing, I can some how protect my heart. And avoid everything that’s going to come with losing her.. it’s like if I just stay away, and I dont talk to anyone, or know what’s happening, then I dont have to feel anything. Because it hurts just knowing what I know and hearing what I hear.
    I dont think I can make it thru another loss.. my heart can’t bare not one more trickle of that kind of pain. I dont think I’ll get thru it again.. because with losing my dad, I had my mom.. with my losing my mom, I had my best best friend. But now, if and when i lose her, my soul sister, my best friend, I’ll be alone.
    I just dont want to fall apart. And to really lose it. Just thinking about that kind of pain, make me nauseous.. I just want to protect my heart. But in the process I’m not being there for the ones that are needing me. (Her)
    Please help. I’m confused. I dont know how to get thru this. I dont know what to do..

  4. website  December 4, 2019 at 1:43 pm Reply

    What’s up, yeah this piece of writing is truly pleasant and I have learned lot of
    things from it on the topic of blogging. thanks.

  5. Christopher Shaw  June 8, 2019 at 7:52 am Reply

    My Mum passed in February, 6 days later my father-in-law passed.
    My wife has pretty much shut me out of her life and I now feel that I am in mourning for both my Mum and my marriage.
    I have no idea how to cope.
    Some advice would be very welcome.
    Thanks.

  6. TRR  June 6, 2019 at 4:44 pm Reply

    “3. You detach from the world around you in general, becoming emotionally numb to avoid setting yourself up to care about something and lose it.”

    It’s funny (not really) but when I tried to visualize what my “wall” might look like, I saw a castle with rock walls, a moat and a drawbridge! I’ve noticed that my feelings seem to have settled into a sort of numbness and #3 above pretty well describes it to me. At least, it seemed to make more sense than what I was thinking… People say I’m the “calmest” person they know – I think that is the numb showing. Nothing seems to faze me anymore. The drawbridge does come down, and I do pass over the moat, when I am invited somewhere or to do something, or if I can dream up errands to run; otherwise, I prefer staying inside my castle with the moat filled with alligators (I’m from FL, after all) and the door locked. And I am comfortable with that – I love the home Paul and I created as our retirement home even though he only got to enjoy it for a couple years. I have even, this week, finished sorting through and donating the rest of his stuff (except for a couple favorite shirts.) It has been 2 1/2 years, our 34th anniversary/my birthday/Father’s Day is coming up on the 16th but I’m okay with it this year (more calmness). We got married on my birthday because that year it was also Father’s Day and he was going to become a father to my 2 young sons. Things are getting better but I’m not giving up my castle or my alligator-protectors.

    1
  7. Belle  March 27, 2019 at 11:25 pm Reply

    Lizziez 3/28/17 (her message,written)
    My story is similar, been 2 and,a,half yrs for me. This coming 9/9/19

  8. Kym K  March 25, 2019 at 12:54 pm Reply

    It was the secondary losses of my trust in the emotional support of a significant other, a few friends I thought would be there for me, and my career that has me with walls. I try to be open & have hope but these losses that are directly due to the intense grief of losing my mom has made that nearly impossible. I don’t want to continue life this way so I am in therapy and taking small safer risks. But damn it sure feels safer behind the wall.

  9. James  March 25, 2019 at 11:53 am Reply

    Our 20 year old son died by suicide on my last birthday. It’s been 8 months. My daughter had to move home. We have to work hard every day, but being around people is becoming more and more difficult. I wish I could just not think anymore. Our family is destroyed, yet everything goes on for everybody else. To me, the world stopped, I stopped living.

  10. Hannah  February 27, 2019 at 12:48 pm Reply

    Thank you for this article. I lost both my mother and brother in the second half of last year. My mother to a stroke and my brother to an extraordinarily rare and aggressive form of cancer. I’m 36, my brother was 35 and my mum 68.

    The point that helped me most here was what you said about a new relationship. My boyfriend and I have been together just 18 months. He can into my life properly (we’d met twice before when we’d had an attraction, but I’d been in another relationship) 2 weeks after my brother was diagnosed. The first time he visited my family home with me, my mother was in ICU and unable to wake up. The first time he met my brother I was taking my brother out for the day in the sunshine to talk about chemo and how he was doing and whether we thought it was having an effect. He has sat next to me at two funerals, he walked with me up the aisle at my mum’s and greeted me with his arms when I had acted as pall bearer for my brother and got to my seat. There are many reasons my walls go up and sometimes stay there. Some are about him – he’s never been in a relationship properly before and I do sometimes remember the early days when he said he never thought he could spend more than 1-2 nights a week seeing someone (we now live together) and some is firmly from me – I just can’t fathom my place in this world right now and I want to protect myself from anything and anyone that can break even another smallest fraction of me. I hope we get through this like you did. I hope I make it and we make it together. You help me in thinking that will be the case.

    1
  11. Barb  October 4, 2018 at 1:06 pm Reply

    My walls are up and I just have no desire to chip away at them. Maybe I am missing out on “stuff”, but without my husband here to enjoy with me, it doesn’t matter.

  12. Robyn Stephanou  August 14, 2018 at 6:47 am Reply

    This article and all the comments are profound. Thank you

  13. Lita Ballard  April 5, 2018 at 11:23 am Reply

    My 30-yr-old daughter died after a long battle with drug addiction. She left behind a 5-yr-old son. My husband also battled drug addiction and went to Prison. The baby and I clung together; shell-shocked. As a non-addict, my brain could not be wrapped around this.
    He was adopted by my older daughter and her husband. He landed in a soft, safe place. I was given Emergency Temporary Guardianship until the adoption went through. He has been well-loved throughout ” The War.” He is in Grief Counseling and also seeing a Child Psychologist. I have built my new life around him. He has a brother and a sister now, all my Love is given to the 3 of them. I do not care about dating or socializing. When I am not with them I stay in my apartment. ( also I am a Hospice Nurse.) I will protect my heart forever, I will stand guard over them.

  14. Lita Ballard  April 5, 2018 at 11:23 am Reply

    My 30-yr-old daughter died after a long battle with drug addiction. She left behind a 5-yr-old son. My husband also battled drug addiction and went to Prison. The baby and I clung together; shell-shocked. As a non-addict, my brain could not be wrapped around this.
    He was adopted by my older daughter and her husband. He landed in a soft, safe place. I was given Emergency Temporary Guardianship until the adoption went through. He has been well-loved throughout ” The War.” He is in Grief Counseling and also seeing a Child Psychologist. I have built my new life around him. He has a brother and a sister now, all my Love is given to the 3 of them. I do not care about dating or socializing. When I am not with them I stay in my apartment. ( also I am a Hospice Nurse.) I will protect my heart forever, I will stand guard over them.

  15. Deena  November 24, 2017 at 1:54 pm Reply

    I wholeheartedly recommend the outstanding podcast and the Facebook page, “Terrible, Thanks for Asking.” Grieving from multiple intimate deaths, I find something of tremendous relevance and value in each episode.

    This is how they describe it: “You know how every day someone asks “how are you?” And even if you’re totally dying inside, you just say “fine,” so everyone can go about their day? This show is the opposite of that. Hosted by author and notable widow (her words) Nora McInerny, this is a funny/sad/uncomfortable podcast about talking honestly about our pain, our awkwardness, and our humanness, which is not an actual word. Terrible, Thanks For Asking launche[d] in November 2016 from American Public Media.”

  16. Deena  November 24, 2017 at 1:54 pm Reply

    I wholeheartedly recommend the outstanding podcast and the Facebook page, “Terrible, Thanks for Asking.” Grieving from multiple intimate deaths, I find something of tremendous relevance and value in each episode.

    This is how they describe it: “You know how every day someone asks “how are you?” And even if you’re totally dying inside, you just say “fine,” so everyone can go about their day? This show is the opposite of that. Hosted by author and notable widow (her words) Nora McInerny, this is a funny/sad/uncomfortable podcast about talking honestly about our pain, our awkwardness, and our humanness, which is not an actual word. Terrible, Thanks For Asking launche[d] in November 2016 from American Public Media.”

  17. Selina S.  May 9, 2017 at 2:25 am Reply

    For the pass 6 years, ever since my dad died when i was 12 yrs old, i have been building up a wall towards everyone in my life. I felt i had to go through it alone, thinking that would make me strong. but the thing is, i’ve put up a wall on myself too. For the pass 6 years i’ve been trying to push away my pain like how i push the people in my life away. But i realize i can’t keep pushing my pain away cuz that just gonna hurt me more. So this 7th year i decided to let my pain out, although i feel like i’m trying to put up even more walls to push people back even further away. I feel like i don’t even want to get to know new people… and seeing my friends and family going on with there lives makes me push them more away so my pain won’t be able to mess up with their lives. Also i think i’m also pushing them more away this year then any other year is cuz both my aunt and grandma passed away last year so, my pain triples this year more then the pass 6 years. I feel like pushing everyone away… even the people who i really trust right now… i feel like whenever i let some pain go, double pain always replaces it.

  18. quakemind.pl  April 16, 2017 at 3:08 pm Reply

    Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It if truth be told used
    to be a entertainment account it. Glance advanced to far added agreeable from you!

    However, how could we keep in touch?

  19. Lizzie  March 28, 2017 at 2:38 am Reply

    It is hard to see others, my family and friends move on with their life. They work, play, go to school, have fun. They are happy, and I’m glad for them. Who wants to feel this way. It has been 2 1/2 years since my husband of 30 years died from cancer. There are days when I feel like it was yesterday. And yet at other times it seems like a lifetime ago. Someone else’s life. I’m sure they don’t want to hear me talk about him all the time. I can’t really blame them. But I spent almost my whole adult life with him. And I really feel so alone. Everyday I put on the good face. I’m just not sure how much longer I can keep this up.

  20. Tina  March 16, 2017 at 7:57 am Reply

    I know exactly what it’s like to ‘shut myself off’. I lost my eldest son to alcoholism 5 years last October, and since then have kept everyone at arm’s length. I feel so sorry for my husband as I can’t stand for him to touch me or show me any affection. I stay on my own most of the time with the doors locked so that I don’t have to interact with anyone. I have an 87 year old mother who lives on her own, and whom my son lived with, and I find it difficult, and a chore, to visit her because I have it in my mind that we could lose her at any time. The only person I can feel close to is my 7 year old granddaughter, because she has no knowledge of the complete picture, has no preconceptions, and loves us for who we are. I feel that if I stay away from people, they won’t miss me when I’m gone, and hurt like I do. Writing this, it seems a selfish attitude to take, but it’s complicated. If I stay isolated then nobody will know-or care-when I’m no longer here. And, yes, I’m just tired…so tired.

  21. Georgia  March 12, 2017 at 6:34 pm Reply

    I have been well aware of my growing detachment & the walls i safely hide behind.
    I found my dad after he took his life in 2015, he and i were best friends. About 6 or so months later I started looking at my partner & was absolutely petrified of something happening to him. Or that he’d get sick of looking after me & he’d leave me. Unaware I started slowly pushing him away, i eventually left 2 weeks before my dads 1st anniversary.
    I left on the Friday. On what i thought was good terms. He killed himself on the sunday.
    I instantly shut down.
    I detached myself emotionally.
    I went from being really close to my family & having a really great group of friends to the occasional visit for a birthday ect.
    I stay home.
    Keep the kids alive.
    And count down the minutes until i can crawl back into bed.
    Im just going through the motions.
    And I’m comfortable with that.
    It’s safe under my blanket.
    Its safe behind my walls.

    • Joy  March 13, 2017 at 1:01 am Reply

      Georgia I am so sorry for what you have been through. My older brother took his life at the age of 46 in 2003. Suicide of a loved one is hard to go through. So many questions unanswered. He did not leave a note. The guilt is still unbearable at times. My prayers and thoughts are with you. My husband of 29 years passed away 7/16/16. I sure can relate to staying in bed.

  22. Jody  March 12, 2017 at 3:05 pm Reply

    I lost my 29 year old son five years ago to PTSD related suicide. He was a young Marine who did 3 tours to Iraq. He struggled every single day with the anxiety, depression and demons. He took his own life on 1/3/12 and I have been in a deep, dark place ever since. His dad and I divorced before our son passed away and he was of no help in planning the funeral arrangements, etc. I did everything by myself. My immediate family and I have always been very close; mom and dad, 2 brothers and a sister. It is now 5 years later and we are completely estranged. They live within 5 to 10 minutes of me. I have walked this journey completely alone and it is not only terrifying but also exhausting. No matter how hard I try to reach out to others, they always let me down. I have always been the one in the family to reach out to others when they need anything but I’m not getting anything back. I am 59 years old and feel like I get up every day hoping that it is my last on earth…..

    • Sue  April 21, 2017 at 12:57 am Reply

      Dear Jody – Your post touched me deeply. My son, a veteran, also died by suicide, 4 years ago. His father did help, and my husband is emotionally available, but my siblings never mention him. They have no idea what I am going through, and I feel distant from them. I think they would rather ignore his death, and my grief, because it makes them uncomfortable – maybe they’ll “catch” it. I feel the need to act fine around them, so as to not disturb them. The worst part is that I feel I’m now building a wall between myself and my husband. He had a stroke and could have died – I assume that is why. I do not want to lose him, but I know now that death is real and can happen to anyone, anytime. How can I be that close to him, knowing how much it would hurt if he dies?

  23. Barb  March 12, 2017 at 1:27 pm Reply

    My walls are important to me right now. I’ve put myself out there a few times in the past 31 months, and I’ve been told I’m negative, that I need to get a grip with reality, that I don’t seem to “fit” the three main reasons my therapist thinks are why people want therapy. My GP keeps trying to “fix” me with medications I cannot tolerate. People have stopped calling, emailing, visiting. So, I’m down to sometimes two people I can be open with, completely. A third lets me vent, but I know my tears make her uneasy. I’ve connected with two widows on FB, but our situations are so completely different that most times, I can’t relate. I’m physically and mentally exhausted. I stay in a lot. It’s just easier. I’ve never had many friends anyway. Only difference now is that the one person who I’ve counted on for the past 49 years is the loss I’m grieving. I know he can’t come back, but it’s all I want. I know I’m not technically alone, but in reality, I am. Sometimes I feel like every person that’s walked out on me since my husband died has put their own brick in my growing wall.

    • Georgia  March 12, 2017 at 6:21 pm Reply

      You just explained exactly how I feel. I’ve never been good at putting what’s going on in my head into sentences that make sense but this here is spot on. Thankyou ?

  24. Wendy  March 11, 2017 at 5:51 pm Reply

    This article does recognize many aspects of my life and I’m sure of others as well. But what it doesn’t recognize is that people are very different and some of us need-require-deep space for understanding and building on the life that has so radically changed. When you say that until you have lost you cannot know emotionally and viscerally what that is, that’s exactly right. So many people including me don’t want to see old friends, the companions of before. They don’t feel what I feel, and yet they try to empathize. Well-meaning but not what I need right now. I am digging very deeply into the events, the feelings, the textures, the qualities of my life. I would never give up what I value and love most just to feel more socially acceptable, just to fill my days with experiences that are far less meaningful. In connection with this examined life I am reading and writing a lot. It is a mind-expanding state of being.

    • Litsa  March 11, 2017 at 7:47 pm Reply

      This is an important point Wendy. Taking a break from people, changing priorities, etc are all things that can be normal, healthy, and welcome. That is very different than building an emotional wall. When things are working for you, then it isn’t necessarily a problematic change. The problems can arise when you remove old things (or people) and don’t open yourself to the possibility of new things (or people). That is the important difference between that positive lens that can come with grief, versus a lens that is seeing the world through a loss of trust that causes an inability to rebuild, adapt, and grow. I hope that distinction makes sense- I am sorry I didn’t make that more explicit in the post, so thank you for the comment! If you haven’t seen these two posts, they may resonate with you and what you’re describing:

      https://www.whatsyourgrief.com/grief-changes-priorities/

      https://www.whatsyourgrief.com/making-grief-friends/

  25. Cathryn A Reilly  March 11, 2017 at 4:18 pm Reply

    What does one do when an attempt to share grief with a family member is met with hurtful comments, and worse? No offense, but that is a rhetorical question because believe me, that protective wall will never come down.

    • Litsa  March 11, 2017 at 4:39 pm Reply

      Hey Cathryn- good question and one we have A LOT of posts about because it is so tragically common! Because I don’t know your exact situation I can’t tell you the most relevant ones, but here are a few to start with:

      https://www.whatsyourgrief.com/making-grief-friends/

      https://www.whatsyourgrief.com/emotional-manipulation/

      https://www.whatsyourgrief.com/family-fighting-after-a-death/

      https://www.whatsyourgrief.com/twelve/

      There are certainly more but hopefully that’s at least something to get you going 🙂

      The reality is (as a number of the above posts describe) sometimes it is healthy to cut people out and have a wall around them. Where problems can come up is if you never let anyone in again, or assume just because one (or five or ten) people are terrible or hurtful, that means everyone will be. Cutting people out can be important, but it is also important to then leave space for new people, using plenty of caution! So sorry your family haven’t been the people you hoped and needed them to be through your loss. ❤️

    • Tamra Brock  March 13, 2017 at 10:24 pm Reply

      I understand that. I keep hearing even after only a year that I should be over my mothers death. It will be three years March 16, 2017 and I’m far from over it. I pretty much grieve alone. I was the only child. It was just my mom and I all my life. My father also passed away in 2010 he was not in my life. I have two children well one daughter is 23 and one 13 I know that without them I wouldn’t get out of bed so they are truly a blessing. However they do not share my grief and I wouldn’t want them to. They say live life for the living but I find it hard to forget the ones that are gone. ?

Leave a Comment

YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.