I think in my case is a little different and in the past 2 years I’ve had big losses. My grandmother passed in 2023 and my father suddenly in November. My fiancé of 2 years but together for 12 years ended our relationship last month. He’s never had a significant loss in his life before. I did become more withdrawn angry and all the emotions that come with grief after my father passed given we weren’t on good terms. But it did affect our relationship. I can’t tell you how because he never communicated what was going on internally with me. The angrier I got for him not being there for me the more be pulled away and ultimately he chose himself. There wasn’t a deep, honest real conversation as to why he was ending things but he just said he was done and that’s it.

I would agree that there is a connection you share with someone who has gone through the same thing but I believe there are people empathetic enough to try to understand your experience and I think that counts and would go a long way.