When Grief Doesn’t Follow the Rules
Grief doesn’t come with a schedule.
→It doesn’t politely pack up after a few weeks.
→It doesn’t always look like tears.
→And it definitely doesn’t care what other people think is a “reasonable” amount of time to feel devastated.
Here at Origins Holistic Psychotherapy in Alpharetta, we hold space for grief in all its forms: raw, messy, complicated, numbing, spiritual, and everything in between. Whether you’ve lost someone you love, a relationship, a version of yourself, or even the life you thought you’d be living… it’s all grief. And it’s all valid.
The problem With How Grief Is treated
Most people mean well.
But if you’ve ever heard phrases like:
“At least he’s in a better place”
“It’s been six months—you should be moving on”
“Stay strong”
“God only gives you what you can handle”
…then you know how lonely grief can be.
These comments come from discomfort. From a world that doesn’t know how to sit with pain. But you’re not broken because you’re still grieving. You’re human.
Grief therapy isn’t meant to “fix” you.
It’s to help you carry what can’t be fixed with more care, more presence, and more permission.
Grief lives in the Body
One of the most misunderstood things about grief is that it’s not just emotional…it’s deeply physical.
You might feel:
heaviness in your chest
tension in your shoulders
fogginess or confusion
exhaustion for no “logical” reason
This is your nervous system doing its best to protect you. From a somatic and Polyvagal Theory lens, grief often pulls the body into a dorsal vagal state, which is a sense of collapse, disconnection, or deep fatigue. And sometimes, your system flips into hyperdrive: racing thoughts, panic, or numb productivity.
At Origins, we gently work with your body’s wisdom instead of pushing past it. Grief therapy here might involve learning to track sensations, breathe into stuck places, or simply sit with what is, without needing to change it. That in itself can be healing.
There Is No timeline & No hierarchy
Whether you’re grieving a parent, a child, a miscarriage, a friendship, a divorce, or your sense of identity… it’s all real. And there is no “correct” sequence to go through.
→Sometimes you’ll feel peaceful.
→Sometimes angry.
→Sometimes you’ll laugh, then cry five minutes later.
→And sometimes, you’ll just go numb.
None of that means you’re doing it wrong.
Compassion-focused therapy reminds us that our internal worlds need tending, not correcting. That grief doesn’t follow neat stages—it weaves in and out, and often shows up years later in unexpected ways.
That’s not regression. That’s the nervous system continuing to process in waves. And that’s okay.
Grief Is Also spiritual…Even If You’re Not “Spiritual”
For some, grief cracks open something larger. You might find yourself asking, “Where did they go?” or “What’s the meaning of this?”
You might not believe in God or the afterlife. You might be unsure.
But you still feel a tug, like there’s more to this life than what we can see.
We honor that too.
Our approach to grief therapy welcomes your spiritual questions, your doubt, your sense of injustice, and your longing. We hold space for the mystery, not needing to define it, but allowing you to relate to it in your own way. Some people describe this as soul-work: a return to what matters most.
Others simply want to feel human again. That matters too.
Tangible Tools for navigating Grief
Here are a few ways we support clients through grief in sessions at Origins Holistic Psychotherapy:
✔️ Body-based tracking – Noticing where grief lives in your body and learning how to be with it instead of escape it
✔️ Compassionate dialogue – Speaking to yourself the way you might to someone you love deeply
✔️ Spiritual reflection – Exploring the bigger questions without needing “answers”
✔️ Somatic grounding – Practices that help you regulate when your nervous system goes offline
✔️ Permission slips – Naming that it’s okay to not be okay, and that there’s no end-date on this
These aren’t one-size-fits-all tools. They’re personalized to where you are and what you need.
Real Support. In real Time.
Grief asks a lot of you…more than most people realize. And it helps to have someone who gets that. Someone who can sit with the silence, the questions, the heartbreak… and not try to fix it. Just be there. Gently guiding. Listening. Making space for whatever is showing up.
At Origins Holistic Psychotherapy, we offer grief therapy that respects your process and honors your pace. Whether you're local to Alpharetta, Milton, or nearby in Roswell, Johns Creek, or anywhere in the North Atlanta area, you're welcome here.
When you're ready, we're here to help you find steady ground again, without rushing it, without judgment, and without needing you to be anything other than exactly where you are.