Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross said, “It is difficult to accept death in this society because it is unfamiliar. In spite of the fact that it happens all the time, we never see it.”

As an ICU nurse, I worked around death a good part of my adult life. I mistakenly thought I understood death, until it happened to me. When I was personally thrust into the unwanted, tragic world of grief, I was completely unprepared for the anguish and debilitating pain I experienced. But, what was even more surprising to me was the overwhelming number of friends and family who were uncomfortable with my pain and the changes it caused in my life. I realized that not only was I unprepared for death and the fallout that occurred in my life, my family and friends were also unprepared for how to support me.

Our Western culture has inadvertently conditioned us to…