Replacing the Irreplaceable

The only way through grief is through. The only way through is through — easier said than done.
We humans will do almost anything to escape pain.
We may replace one pain with another less painful though more harmful one — witness the alcoholic, the drug addict. As Emily Dickinson wrote, we sleepwalk through addiction “that covers the abyss with trance.” We may even con ourselves into thinking we can replace the irreplaceable.