Once you have experienced your first big grief, you live your whole life looking back on that thing. You also spend it looking forward to the rest of life’s losses that will eventually occur. That is why the feeling of anxious anticipation – waiting for the other shoe to drop – is so normal. Life balances itself out. The sum always returns to zero. If things are going swimmingly at the moment, you can be sure a time of want is coming. Don’t worry – once you learn how to grieve, you will always know what to do when the losses arrive. Life is equal parts loss and gain, so you can stop orienting yourself toward always having to be so happy. Then you will be able to accept and receive life as it is, instead of how you think it should be.
