David Kessler

Here's the bad news.

They can't be that person again.

We'd have to bring someone back from the dead, and that's beyond our powers.

So they've got to accept this different life that they're in.

They're not the old them anymore.

And you have to accept your friend, your family member, not the old them either.

Be with them who they are now.

Love them who they are now.

Right where they are, even if you think they're doing it wrong, love them.

I think in our modern world, like I worked early in my career in children's hospital.

I knew children died.

The world used to be full of bereaved parents.

Every parent was a bereaved parent, you know, 100 years ago.

Luckily, it doesn't happen as often, but it still does.

And we don't understand

the depth of that pain and the additional support they're going to need.

There's a lot of things that complicate it.

It can be a sudden death.

It could be death of a child, addiction, mental health issues.

When it becomes complicated grief, it's going to just take longer and you're going to need more support.