Depression and loss can be ravenous, consuming all of your energy, motivation, and hope. It's hard to avoid geting lost in it. You can find yourself withdrawing from friends, from life, from activities that once made you feel alive without even realising it.
If you saw or experienced depression or grief growing up, were you taught to shut down, or try to think your way out of it? This can lead to the feelings of anxiety and intrusive thoughts—which though painful in themselves, are designed to distract us from our deeper pain.
open up again
If we learn how to open to grief, we can discover that our connection to loss is also a pathway to love. We find what poet Anne Carson calls the bittersweetness of love. When we're able to open our hearts—whether it's to grief or to love— we're more able to open to awe, abundance, and joy.