David Kessler, an expert on grief, says that the discomfort we are feeling now in this time of pandemic may be grief. He says grief is a change we don’t want, as in an experience of loss. We grieve over the world we have lost to this pandemic. He gives the example of losing a loved one to COVID-19. And he says that never have we grieved a loved one without others to mourn with us.

One way or another, whether because of the new coronavirus or because of (the virus of) sin, we may be grieving. We may not be grieving over the passing of a loved one, but we may be grieving over a lost job, income, or opportunity. Or we may be grieving over having a job we are not happy about, over a broken marriage, family, or relationship. We may be grieving over a trauma, over bad decisions in our lives, over the fact that a niece had to postpone the celebration of her debut or forgo having her graduation, etc. What about you? What loss are you feeling right now? What are you grieving over in your life now?

Kessler worked with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the author of the book, On Death and Dying. In this book, Elisabeth first explored the now-famous Five Stages of Grief (Here’s a brief description of the Stages). Kessler says that each one grieves in his or her own way. So, the Stages doesn’t mean that everyone goes through it in the same way or in the same particular order. One person may experience more of one of these stages than the others, while another may not experience one or two of these stages at all.

Kessler advises that to come to terms with our grief we need to name our grief, our loss. He says naming our grief allows us to feel the grief, allows us to be sad. By naming it, we are acknowledging it, not suppressing it. That way we begin to grieve. According to him, what helps in this situation is to stay in the present moment and not be sucked into worrying about the future. He also says that we need to know what is within our control and what is not, and to act accordingly.