August 30th is National Grief Awareness Day.

In this day and age, it’s easy to get lost in the cycle of hashtag holidays (National Doughnut Day, National Peanut Butter Day, National Bowtie Day) and gloss over the importance of some special “Days” that deserve pause and contemplation.  

National Grief Awareness Day is definitely one of those days that must not get lost in the sea of social media holidays.

What is grief awareness?

Likely you’ve heard of the concept of “acceptance” of a problem that comes before solving it. This concept can also be applied to grief – even though grief isn’t a problem, and it doesn’t get solved. 

For those of us experiencing grief, if we accept that it is a part of our current life experience, we can progress to permitting ourselves to grieve. 

Permission to grieve does so much to lighten the load and allow us to flow into a new reality where grief changes our lives profoundly.

If someone you love is experiencing grief, you must accept that grief exists and that it’s a personal journey for the person experiencing it – and not something that requires judgment or any action to “fix” it.

Why does grief awareness matter?

All too often, those experiencing grief often feel that they aren’t allowed to grieve and are judged when doing so.

There is no expiration date on grief, and after a set amount of time, those of us grieving a death loss won’t merely “get over it.” Grief is a highly personal journey that each person is on for the rest of their life. Sometimes the feelings and memories come back in waves, but there is undoubtedly no expiration date. The memories and emotions can come rushing back at any moment throughout life. 

The bottom line is – it’s completely okay not to be okay. And it’s critical that we, as a society, don’t put added pressure on those who are grieving.

What can we do to support grief awareness?

There are so many ways to support grief awareness.

● If you know someone is grieving, offer to be there for them – no judgment.

● Download the FREE AMF App and share it with others. 

● Let the memory of your person live on and heal someone else. Make a donation in their name, and we will add their name to the legacy wall and light a candle for your person. 100% of the donation goes to support a person who is very new in their grief experience. $2/month or a donation of $25 can offer grief support to one person for an entire year

● Ask your employer or school what their bereavement policies are and how they can be improved

● Share the work we do at https://healgrief.org 

● Download and spread the word about our resources, including our App and Interactive Q+A’s.

We hope you’ll take a moment on August 30th to remember those grieving and commit to creating a compassion-filled society for everyone experiencing grief.