When the Grief Wave Hits Randomly

Grief doesn’t follow a schedule. It can move quietly for days and then rise suddenly, catching you off guard. One moment you feel steady enough to move through your day, and the next you’re hit with a wave so strong it takes your breath for a moment.

These waves might arrive while you’re making coffee, walking to the shop, hearing a song, or even in a moment that feels neutral. The trigger isn’t always obvious. Sometimes there isn’t one at all. The body remembers in ways the mind can’t track.

A grief wave is your system releasing emotion in pieces.

Not everything can be felt at once.

Not everything arrives with a clear story.

Waves happen because the body processes grief in layers. When one layer softens or clears, another rises to the surface. These waves are signs that something inside you is shifting, loosening, moving again.

A grief wave often feels like:

• pressure rising in the chest

• a sudden tightness in the throat

• warmth behind the eyes

• a drop in your stomach

• sudden sadness without a thought attached

• a sense of missing something

• tears coming without warning

• a need to pause or breathe

These moments can feel inconvenient or confusing, especially when life expects you to be composed and functional. But a grief wave isn’t interrupting your day. It’s completing something that paused earlier.

Your body is trying to make space.

When a wave hits, you don’t have to dive into it.

You don’t have to analyse it.

You don’t have to stop your life for it.

Meeting it gently is enough.

A slower breath.

A hand on the chest.

A soft acknowledgement inside yourself.

A few seconds of presence before you continue.

The more you allow these waves to rise and fall, the less pressure builds in your system. Grief moves through you instead of storing itself inside you. The wave is not a setback. It’s a release.

If you know someone who may benefit from breathwork for grief, or if you’d like support navigating these emotional waves with more ease, you’re welcome to explore my grief-tending breathwork sessions. They offer a grounded space for the body to release at a pace that feels safe.

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