The hands of a construction worker usually show the wear and tear of daily use. Seldom is a good worker without a bruise under the fingernail, the silent badge of handwork. In grief, you are similarly bruised under your emotional exterior. You perhaps put on figurative gloves to protect yourself from contact, commitment, or the inevitable march of progress through your life. As with a physical bruise, the injury of grief usually improves over time. When you are ready to begin, you roll up your sleeves and do the hands-on work of rebuilding your structure. Personal growth propels your project forward as gradually you build, carefully placing one block of experience upon the last. Your self-renewal project takes form and shape. An improved structure emerges from the building materials of grief. The work is messy and dirty, but construction is always productive.