It's OK That You're Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand Paperback – October 1, 2017

What an excellent explanation, guide and interpretation of exactly what grief is, how it causes trauma sensations to your body and mind and how to process and progress through it on a daily basis.Megan Divine has done a magnificent job in compiling all of this information while clearly explaining it.She also has many excellent pod casts, I’ve probably watch all of them and are excellent as well. She also teaches from both technical knowledge and personal experience. I would love to meet her, what a compassionate and understanding person she appears to be and if you are interested in learning more or dealing with your own grief or how to support others who are experiencing grief, you need to read this book.

I love this book, starting from the title that it gives you permission to not feel ok. As you read it, you learn why it's ok to not be ok, to acknowledge that all emotions are valid and matter. It resonates with me so much because I've seen this in therapy.

Megan's book is excellent. She covers the grief experience from the moment of the beginning to the future. She addresses the physical and mental changes of being in grief which was very helpful to someone not knowing what to expect. She is very clear that grief will never end, however, she has practical suggestions for how to tend to it and carry it into your future. I have given 4 copies to friends in grief. The conclusion of the book is suggestions for how to support someone in grief. Our culture around grief is broken. Megan explains how and why we can change so everybody can have their grief needs better supported.

This book should be an instruction manual for Life, not only losing a loved one! The book feels so accurate in my feelings and experiences. It’s helpful and effective, even encouraging, in gaining understanding and validity, and the ability to move forward successfully. It has been the truest reflection of everything I have felt about my life and every issue I’ve been through. I’ve experienced childhood trauma, medical and emotional difficulties, and multiple family deaths, including the sudden, unexpected loss of my 54 year old husband. I’ve never found the support I truly need from family or friends, and I’ve seen poor therapists until only recently finding, through persistence, someone valid and supportive. What I’ve felt, what I’ve received as ‘support’ from people around me, the results… all of it put me in a terrible place, with me believing so much was my fault, I was a horrible person, and I could never pick up the pieces. But when you can finally feel that you are valid in your feelings and even understand those around you, you can begin to overcome; and even eventually help others overcome in their times of need. A couple times I’ve discussed with my therapist what I’m learning from the book to get her feedback and perspective, which is always positive, and also in hopes she’ll read it because anyone can gain insight from it. Quoted from the book: “Many grieving people feel like they’re on another planet, or wish they could go to one. Somewhere there are others like them. People who understand.”

This book is heartfelt and real. Very helpful for me after losing my mom to Alzheimer's. I appreciate the wisdom and resources in this book.

As a grief counselor I have recommended many different reading resources to my clients. This book has been the most helpful and effective resource I’ve used. My clients always have positive feedback that is specific to their support, needs, and journey. I highly recommend it and would suggest it as a gift along with a sympathy card. Much more to offer than flowers or a plant.

We Lost our daughter about a month ago. I have been reading a lot of books on grief. I really appreciated this one because it wasn't religious and it gives me the strength to give myself quiet time, space that I need to grieve. Been watching the authors short video clips on facebook as well. She just gets it.

I can’t say enough great things about this book. I’m newly widowed and can’t even begin to tell you how many grief books were tossed at me. My brain was in shock - I was barely showering let alone sitting and reading in hopes of comprehending what just happened in the lives of myself and my children.I can’t remember how I came across the book, but as soon as I saw the cover, the part that says “Meeting Grief and Loss in a culture that doesn’t Understand “, I said yep, that’s the truth and looked a little further. The dedication is “For those who are the stuff of other peoples nightmares.” Again I thought, yes, that’s us. She talks about her work as a therapist and how she really got it when her person passed. And, once so got to chapter 1 and she said, “ here’s what I most want you to know, this really is as bad as you think. No matter what anyone else says this sucks. Further down she says the reality of grief is far different from what others see from the outside and you can’t be cheered out of it. She said you don’t need solutions you don’t need to move on from this grief you need someone to see your grief and acknowledge it and you need someone to hold your hand while you stay in there in blinking horror staring at the hole that was your life. She says some things cannot be fixed they can only be carried.This resonated with me; the raw truth, not the cliches most people say when they don’t know what to say. That rawness is what I needed; that acknowledgement, that understanding that my life just went to hell. Not another daily devotional.She discusses several things that may pop up in your head, crazy thoughts, and assures us that we are not crazy. She helps us understand that these things are normal. But I love that she reinforces is that grief is not normalized in our country and we avoid it because we don’t know what to say so we just go about our lives and those of us left with that gaping hole are left to try to figure out how to survive. It’s truly a manual of sorts; a way to navigate so many thoughts, feelings, and situations. Not only is it good for those of us who lost someone, but for the persons trying to be the supportive person in someone’s life. I’m so grateful I found this, thank you Megan!