In your own ways, and in your own time, you will find ways to stitch this experience into your life. It will change you, yes. You may become more empathetic, as you know how the wrong words can cut, even when well-intentioned. It may also make you more short-tempered, with a severely shortened fuse for other people’s cruelty or ignorance. In fact, that happens for a lot of people: in loss, we often become protective of others’ pain, correcting and redirecting others who would inflict more pain by trying to take it away. Grief changes you. Who you become remains to be seen. You do not need to
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