--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There's a general impulse to distract the…" description: "\"There's a general impulse to distract the grieving person - as if you could.\" — Joan Didion" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/259/joan-didion-497_could_there-s-a-general-impulse-to-distract-th_1728489.jpg" --- # There's a general impulse to distract the grieving person… ![“There's a general impulse to distract the grieving person - as if you could.” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/259/joan-didion-497_could_there-s-a-general-impulse-to-distract-th_1728489.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/259/joan-didion-497_could_there-s-a-general-impulse-to-distract-th_1728489.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/259/joan-didion-497_could_there-s-a-general-impulse-to-distract-th_1728489.jpg) > “There's a general impulse to distract the grieving person - as if you could.” [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People often try to fill the void of grief with distractions, believing it will ease pain. **In simple terms:** Distractions are used to avoid confronting grief. Key Takeaway Allow space for feeling rather than distraction. Themes grief comfort distraction Mood empathetic reflective Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - funeral visits - therapy sessions - support groups - personal loss Key Concepts psychology emotional coping Questions to Reflect On - How can you support someone without diverting their grief? - What healthy outlets aid mourning? A Different Perspective Distractions may prevent processing and prolong healing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Could](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/could/) [Distract](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/distract/) [Distract Grieving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/distract-grieving-1406658/) [General](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/general/) [Grieving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grieving/) [Grieving Person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grieving-person-1406659/) [Impulse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impulse/) [Impulse Distract](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impulse-distract-1406660/) [Person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/person/) [You](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/you/) ## Related quotes > [A grieving person's like a person treading in deep water--if they've nothing to hold on to, they lose hope. They slide right under.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanna-kearsley/a-grieving-person-s-like-a-person-treading-in-deep-water-if-they-ve/) [Susanna Kearsley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanna-kearsley/) > [Everybody who undergoes a death and finds themselves grieving is obsessed with — or maybe overly focused on — the idea that they can’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/everybody-who-undergoes-a-death-and-finds-themselves-grieving-is/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [When working, my diet degrades to pizza three times a day, because I don't want to distract myself from anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/when-working-my-diet-degrades-to-pizza-three-times-a-day-because-i/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [All of society is built to prop up that lie, the whole world a big, noisy puppet show meant to distract us from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wong/all-of-society-is-built-to-prop-up-that-lie-the-whole-world-a-big/) [David Wong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wong/) > [If you love something, you have to stay really focused and can't let outside things distract you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-justice/if-you-love-something-you-have-to-stay-really-focused-and-can-t-let/) [Victoria Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-justice/) > [You can be whoever you want to be. Don't let those voices or noises, whether they're inside or outside, distract you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ally-brooke/you-can-be-whoever-you-want-to-be-don-t-let-those-voices-or-noises/) [Ally Brooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ally-brooke/) > [When campaigns use one-word labels, typically it's meant to distract and destroy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-halter/when-campaigns-use-one-word-labels-typically-it-s-meant-to-distract/) [Bill Halter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-halter/) > [“Only reading, she knew, could distract her from her obsessive thoughts and restore her sense of peace.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilma-wolitzer/only-reading-she-knew-could-distract-her-from-her-obsessive-thoughts/) [Hilma Wolitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilma-wolitzer/) > [Without question, the material world and your everyday needs distract you from living meaningfully.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/menachem-mendel-schneerson/without-question-the-material-world-and-your-everyday-needs-distract/) [Menachem Mendel Schneerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/menachem-mendel-schneerson/) > [My son died from cancer. My granddaughter died from cancer. I have a lot of reasons to think that reality is not a friendly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-morrell/my-son-died-from-cancer-my-granddaughter-died-from-cancer-i-have-a/) [David Morrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-morrell/) > [Why did you want to go and distract me like that? I was quite in my element and everything.' Conall laughed. 'Someone has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-carriger/why-did-you-want-to-go-and-distract-me-like-that-i-was-quite-in-my/) [Gail Carriger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-carriger/) > [You make a film to distract people, to interest them, perhaps to make them think, perhaps to help them be a little less naive,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-chabrol/you-make-a-film-to-distract-people-to-interest-them-perhaps-to-make/) [Claude Chabrol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-chabrol/) > [If we allow our self-congratulatory adoration of technology to distract us from our own contact with each other, then somehow the original agenda has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaron-lanier/if-we-allow-our-self-congratulatory-adoration-of-technology-to/) [Jaron Lanier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaron-lanier/) > [Don't let your circumstances distract you from God's truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/don-t-let-your-circumstances-distract-you-from-god-s-truth/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If the media is sending girls the message that their value lies in their bodies, this can only leave them feeling disempowered and distract…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-siebel-newsom/if-the-media-is-sending-girls-the-message-that-their-value-lies-in/) [Jennifer Siebel Newsom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-siebel-newsom/) ## More by Joan Didion > [To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-shift-the-structure-of-a-sentence-alters-the-meaning-of-that/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accomplish-anything-every-day-but/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Style is character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/style-is-character/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/california-is-a-place-in-which-a-boom-mentality-and-a-sense-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I went because I was interested in the alchemy of issues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-went-because-i-was-interested-in-the-alchemy-of-issues/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/why-did-i-write-it-down-in-order-to-remember-of-course-but-exactly/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-no-longer-want-reminders-of-what-was-what-got-broken-what-got-lost/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving butter cookies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/my-mother-gave-teas-the-way-other-mothers-breathed-her-own-mother/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'm not very interested in people. I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-m-not-very-interested-in-people-i-recognize-it-in-myself-there-is-a/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a point when choice was any more than sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/was-there-ever-in-anyone-s-life-span-a-point-free-in-time-devoid-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Research to date has shown that, like many other stressors, grief frequently leads to changes in the endocrine, immune, autonomic nervous, and cardiovascular systems;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/research-to-date-has-shown-that-like-many-other-stressors-grief/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“By the end of the week she was thinking constantly about where her body stopped and the air began about the exact point in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/by-the-end-of-the-week-she-was-thinking-constantly-about-where-her/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I just can't see the upside in this," I heard myself say by way of explanation. Later he said that if John had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-can-t-see-the-upside-in-this-i-heard-myself-say-by-way-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [ I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. \[...\] I think biographies are very urgent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-through-whole-categories-i-was/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-those-of-us-who-remained-committed-mainly-to-the-exploration-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Explore all 515 Joan Didion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## More Could quotes > [By eating many fruits and vegetables in place of fast food and junk food, people could avoid obesity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-h-murdock/by-eating-many-fruits-and-vegetables-in-place-of-fast-food-and-junk/) [David H. 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