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Understanding grief as something we live with, not 'get over,' helps us heal and thrive

Find an excerpt from “The After Grief” here.

The holiday season can feel melancholy for many, particularly those who’ve lost loved ones — not only over the last year but over a lifetime.

But grief, explains author Hope Edelman, shouldn’t be something we try to “get over.” In fact, she says there are only two phases — one where you “feel really bad” and one “where you start to feel better.” And once we find new and different ways to carry our loved ones with us, we enter the period she calls “the after grief.”

Here & Now‘s Robin Young spoke to Edelman after she released her 2020 book aptly titled “The After Grief” about how shifting the way we view grief can help us heal and grow.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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