When the Grieving Process Starts

After cremation services in Boones Mill, VA, you will begin an intense period of grieving over the loss of your loved one. Grief as a process can overwhelm you as experience things that you may have never experienced before.

While your grief process will be unlike any other person’s grief process – in the details – you will experience some common things that others who have lost loved ones experience. It might be comforting to know that you are not alone in this journey.

One of the biggest surprises you may experience is how much more intense your grief over your loved one’s death is than you had anticipated it would be. Even if you have lost loved ones to death before, you may be taken aback that grief seems and feels different than the way you remember.

It is common to grieve in different ways for each loved one in your life. Part of that is because your relationship with each person is different, so the things you lose when they die will be different.

Grief with each person you love will be different. Whenever you grieve a loved one’s death, it can feel like the first time you have been through the grieving process, because grief is, in part, based on the uniqueness of each relationship you have with your loved ones and the different memories and feelings you associate with each of them.

A common feeling that you may have with grief is that you are completely alone. But you are not. While not everyone can be there for your whole grief experience, there are people who can and will be there with you for parts of it. Let them participate with you as they can.

You need to be prepared, however, for times when you feel that your support group is letting you down or they are not there for you when you need them to be. It is important to remember that even though your friends and family members want to help and support you, they are not able to provide everything you need all the time.

If you feel like your friends and family are not helping you in the way you need, you need to make sure that they know exactly what you need. Too often, it is easier to talk around your most important needs, but you cannot expect people to read between the lines. That will only create frustration for you and for them.

You have other grief resources you can use besides your family and your friends. Your funeral home can help you find grief resources, such as local professional counseling and local grief support groups.



Beginning a new chapter in your life is probably one of the most challenging things you will experience when you lose a loved one, but you will find that, with time, everything feels safer and more manageable.

Until that time comes, you will have to deal with the hills and valleys of grieving. Prepare for it to be a bumpy ride. But in the course of grieving over the loss of your loved one, you will discover new things about yourself, you will grow in ways you have never imagined you would, and you will lock in forever the memories of your loved one in a way that can never be changed or broken.

For additional information about grief resources and cremation services in Boones Mill, VA, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Conner-Bowman Funeral Home & Crematory can assist you.