by Reuben M. Chow, Living-With-Grief.com

As we mourn the loss of our loved ones, it is often tempting to retreat into a shell, to build a barrier and shut ourselves away from the love of others, and any interaction with them.

This is something I strongly discourage.

Oh yes, we definitely need time and space alone to grieve and come to terms with our loss, no doubt about that.

But isolating ourselves from others for the long term serves very little, if any, positive purpose.

On the flip side, by opening ourselves to others, we would be, very directly, aiding in our own recovery.

In fact, people often say that our own hurt and pain heal faster when we stop focussing only on ourselves, but also reach out to the needs of others.

No man is an island, and this holds true even during the most difficult moments of our grief journey.

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