There are no specific guidelines or rules about how to express your grief, but most people say they feel better when they let their grief out in some way.

There are many ways to do this such as crying, talking, listening to music, attending a support group, writing and being creative. Being able to tell your story is not only for people who had wonderful relationships. Coming to terms with difficult relationships is also a part of grieving. Whatever your relationship was, grief is better out than in.

It’s important to set aside time to grieve. Even though this may be very hard to do because it is painful, be patient and remind yourself that sad is not bad when you’re dealing with the death of someone close to you.

Like any important task, it’s important to carve out time to grieve by scheduling it into your day. If you don’t make time, it’s easy to become consumed with the busyness of life. What can happen then is that months or years later it can just knock you down like a huge wave.

Planning a specific time each day or every couple of days to sit down and think about the death of a loved one helps you to feel more in control of your grief.

One suggestion is to allocate 10-20 minutes each or every other day as your grief time. Use a journal to write down your thoughts and feelings.