Performative Grief Drives Me Absolutely Insane

I’ve known people in my respective work, school, or other communities who have died recently. Two colleagues I worked very closely with died in the past year. It is very tragic, but I’ve never been the closest person to them. I wouldn’t have considered them in my circle of close friends. And so I never felt like it was appropriate to make a social media post or grieve too publicly. I’ve never been one to show my emotions of grief that publicly (even if I write publicly about it), but I have not had close friends or immediate family die yet. As such, I contacted a couple friends and talked to my therapist about how sad I was the person died. I attended the funeral services. But making a social media post never crossed my mind. I may have shared something I saw with no caption. But I wouldn’t pretend to have been like family or best friends with the person because I was not. It’s not that I don’t mourn these friends, colleagues, and classmates. I don’t want to seem insensitive by seeming like I’m just going about my life on social media. In these situations where those who passed far too soon weren’t my closest friends or weren’t family, I just don’t think it’s my place. <a href="https://medium.com/invisible-illness/performative-grief-drives-me-absolutely-insane-7eb9775bd62a">Learn More</a>