Grief

Max Porter’s Grief Is the Thing With Feathers offers a tender and unusual window into the experience of loss. Through the voices of a father and his two sons, Porter captures the disorienting landscape that follows the death of someone deeply loved. The arrival of the crow in the story speaks to the strangeness of grief — how unpredictable, intrusive, and mysterious it can feel.

When someone important to us dies, our responses vary widely. Grief may arrive as emotional overwhelm, or it may settle in as numbness. For some, it feels like a heavy grey fog descending over everything. It can also feel confusing, as though the world we once knew — the assumptions we lived with, the sense of how life was supposed to be — has shifted beneath our feet.

Memories arise in unexpected ways: anniversaries, certain scents or places, shared music, or the familiar routines that are now missing. These reminders can stir both tenderness and pain. And all the while, the world continues moving forward, even when we feel barely able to keep pace or feel part of it.

As well as the experience of grief itself, it can become more difficult if perhaps the relationship was complicated, because family dynamics feel strained, or because the loss happened long ago and still feels unresolved.

In these times of grief, having the support of a counsellor can make a meaningful difference. Counselling offers a safe space to explore your feelings, to understand more what you are going through and find a new way to tread in the world.

If you feel you would benefit from compassionate support as you navigate your grief, please reach out to me.