• Sadness and tearfulness, often triggered by any outside input.
• Fear of death and the loss, along with the life changes that may accompany the loss.
• Feeling of loneliness, as the person feeling anticipatory grief is unable to express it.
• Anger, both in the person dying as well as the person who is about to lose a loved one.
• The need to talk and vent out emotions.
• Guilt and Anxiety, especially survivor guilt.
• Intense emotional, physical and spiritual connection with the loved one.
• Difficulty in sleeping.
• Fear and concern for the children.
• Acceptance of the inevitability of death.

Conventional grief, the kind of grief that occurs after the loss of a loved one, or even loss of one’s dreams, is commonly discussed and understood.

Anticipatory grief is a lesser-known dimension of grief, something which occurs before death (or any great loss).