Chances are that you or someone close to you has experienced the grief of losing a close loved one. Of course, grief comes in all shapes and sizes and is experienced very uniquely by each individual. When you think of grief, your first thought might be the feelings that arise when someone passes away - this is one of the most common forms of grief. Grief can also appear in our lives when your adult child moves out of the home, when you are diagnosed with a chronic illness, or collectively when your community or society experiences extreme loss or change. We all have varying levels of distress and resiliency when it comes to grief, and there is no shame to be had about these differences. We all have most likely felt grief at one point (or many) through these past couple of years, whether big or small.

How do we support those around us who are experiencing grief, when we may be experiencing it ourselves as well (but possibly in a different way)? Let's revisit the grief that is experienced when a loved one leaves us. Typically, this kind of grief touches every aspect of our lives including routines, holidays, birthdays, and more. What can we do besides sending the “I’m sorry for your loss” or “I'm thinking of you” text message? When someone is grieving it might be very difficult for them to make decisions such as assigning ways in which they could be helped - but trust me, they could use the help! A simple, yet very useful, way to help is grief groceries. This might look like dropping off meals you have made with love on their doorstep, sending a grocery delivery to their house, or placing a basket of goodies on their work desk. This takes a mundane but necessary task of planning meals, making a grocery list and cooking off of their very full to-do list. I get it - grief and talking about death is something folks often feel weird or awkward about, but food is something that helps us feel connected and comforted. There's even companies now that will send packaged comfort meals right to the doorstep of your loved one. Check out spoonfulofcomfort.com!