"Ring theory"[0] was one of the most important things anyone shared with me when my sister died. Tl;dr: Whoever was the closest to the deceased is in the inner

"Ring theory"[0] was one of the most important things anyone shared with me when my sister died. Tl;dr: Whoever was the closest to the deceased is in the innermost ring, perhaps a spouse, a parent, close siblings (in my case, my sister's husband). The next ring is the people next-closest, in this case, my mom. The next ring includes the next-closest people, like me, my brother, my dad, etc. And the rings keep going outward. Here's the rule: You can dump absolutely any pain, need, or struggle you have on anyone who's in a farther/larger ring than you are. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE are you allowed to dump anything on anyone in a closer ring. Support works one way in the ring. The outer layers support the inner ones. ONLY. Very early on, I relayed this to one of my sister and brother-in-law's friends and asked him to make sure anybody who wanted to connect with us understood. He did it masterfully, and I recommend tucking this theory in the back of your mind somewhere for when you need it. [0] https://www.everhomehealthcare.com/post/ring-theory-and-saying-the-right-thing-in-2020 https://www.everhomehealthcare.com/post/ring-theory-and-sayi...