"We're wired to protect ourselves so we're not faced with reality all at once. We adjust to it bit by bit. Imagine walking into a room and seeing or smelling something that reminds you of the person who's died. In that moment, you are acutely aware that they are not coming back. The pain forces you to face reality, its harshness and its brutality. The process of grieving is moving in and out of these moments." Julia Samuel
Memory plays a powerful role in grief. When someone we love dies, our memories of them can bring both comfort and deep pain as we adjust to a new reality of life without that person. And yet, our memories are also the place where our lost loved ones reside and we often experience profound fear that those memories will fade or be lost altogether. Memory is an omnipresent, bittersweet companion to grief.
The Grief Gang Podcast creator Amber Jeffrey interviews Julia Samuel to explore the myriad ways that memory plays a part in grief: from memory loss and the 'fog of grief' to memorialising loved ones and coping with anniversaries.
This session originally aired in October 2022.