NotThatShort and Roager, thank you for sharing yourselves with us.

A deep sense of loss proves that the time and effort, whether in building a relationship or working hard at football, was not wasted. They enriched and improved your life and who you are, making you a better, deeper person. Nothing is wasted, for God uses everything for good.

Hey, I'm curious: Have you ever experienced empathetic grief? Here's what I mean: you have a friend or family member whom you love very much, and then that person experiences grief. You, though you are not actually grieved over what happened, love your friend/family so much that you feel grief along with him or her.
Has that ever happened to you?

Oh, yes, all the time... *will tell more later if more is wanted and if she can word it coherently*

Yes.

Quite often, yes

Well... when my dog died, I didn't handle it very well. I basically withdrew into myself and spent all of my free time in an out-of-the-way corner of my room, listening to music. I also wasn't very nice to the rest of my family... I kind of snapped at them and was a jerk most of the time. It took me about a month before I could function normally again. And that was only because my mom told me it was time to move on and stop spending my time moping.

Besides the grief, I think I felt angry and guilty all of the time. I still kind of do. With myself, mostly. I knew she was doing bad, but when she came back from the vet, I still wandered off to do what I wanted to do. Next thing I know, my dad is shouting for my mom, and then my mom is crying and telling me to come in the kitchen. I come in, and my dog isn't moving. I felt so stupid after that.
I was also angry at the vets. We had taken the dog in for a check-up just a month before. And they had declared her healthy and well. Well, seems like they were wrong.

The only other things I could think about besides what had happened were... I don't know how to explain it really. Mostly trying to come up with ways I could just make it all go away. I didn't want to deal with it anymore. But that wasn't something that had just been brought on; I had been thinking about how to make it all go away for about a year.

I've kind of drifted away from my family and friends as a whole, I think, because if I don't love anyone or care about anyone, then it won't hurt as much.

As for empathetic grief... I've felt that a ton. This year, one of my best friends lost his grandfather. And another good friend lost her mom. That made me spiral into really bad feelings. I was beginning to realize that the world was a cruel place, and honestly, why should I even want to stay here?

Luckily, my thoughts didn't progress further into actions, and I think I've mostly gotten over it now.

*nods at Aemi * Yes... I think that that is quite common, specifically in certain personalities. I experience it often.

I experience it from time to time.