Have you ever dropped something in shock after hearing bad news

I've never been strongly affected by the death of famous people. Naturally, it is awful for a young child to die in yesterday's crash but I am not personally upset.
If I hear of someone I know well dying, I'm likely to burst into tears but have never dropped anything.

No me neither GrandmaMoira no I ve never dropped anything in shock
I too had never heard of the basketball player but felt great sadness for his family
I ve cried over deaths in the news when in a tragic accident, war etc but not really celebrities or famous people so much at least I can’t think of any off hand I think I may have done when Elvis died but I was only a youngster

I couldn’t have dropped anything when I heard about Diana - I was in bed, the radio had just come on at 4.30 am to wake me, since I had to go and collect a dd from Gatwick. All the way (with the news on) I was in something of a disbelieving daze, though, and at the very early-morning airport, newly arrived people were walking around looking equally dazed, saying, ‘Is it true?’

Very tragic about Kobe Bryant and the child, but I’m relieved that I’m not the only one who’d never heard of him.

I've never dropped anything in shock, but when I got the call that informed me my son-in-law had been killed I understood the reality of the saying, 'my blood ran cold'. The sense of shock was manifested physically, so although I was very calm I was completely disoriented for about a minute and became extremely cold.

No I haven’t but when we were in Australia on holiday I got a call from my sister.
She told me that dad had died. He had a stroke on the day we left London and he didn’t want to spoil my holiday with my DD. Everyone thought he would recover.
I don’t know how I produced the noise I made but I hope I don’t do it again.

grannyactivist i can relate to 'blood running cold'. It was when i got a call from my eldest brother telling me my youngest brother had died unexpectedly. The words that came out of my mouth where a spontantious reaction, a four lettered word beginning with f, a word I never use. I was in total shock and then had the awful task of going to where my sister worked and getting her manager to call her to the reception area so i could tell her too. We had to support her otherwise she would have fallen to the floor. It was such a major shock for us all.

@PamelaJ1 I remember making a very strange noise myself at home after I had said my final "See you later" to my dad in intensive care but before he had actually died. A bit like a pure animal instinctive cry of distress.

And I don't want to explain what it was about but last year I received a phone call that sent me into shock (something I considered bad news) and I actually lost the ability to speak for about 45 minutes I think it was. Literally was incapable of producing a sound and had to use pen and paper to communicate.

I'd never heard of him either and wondered why he was the lead story on STV news.Of course its sa to hear these things but I've never been so involved with a stranger/celebrity that their death affected me in any way .When my own lovely dad died I heard by phone from the police,dad died in the street while out buying fish for tea.I didn't break down or cry.I put on my coat and walked until I felt my head was clear enough to go to mum and call my sisters .
When mum died I was with her and I walked for 10 miles or more I'm not a cryer,I deal with what has to be dealt with and to sort my head out and be able to get on with funeral arrangements etc.Uusally I feel the effects weeks or months later but its just how I am

Many years ago, my partner opened a letter, which had bad news in it.
I was sitting at the dining table and I got such a shock that I jumped to my feet, banged my head really hard on the shelf unit and passed wind really loudly.

(Sorry this is an undignified anecdote...but the impact of the shock was very real.
Please don’t think that I am trying to trivialise the thread).

I’ve never dropped anything in shock, but I’ve fainted in the past.

Also, about 18 months ago a friend died very suddenly. After I’d heard the news, I completely forgot what she looked like. I couldn’t remember her at all, except that she had blond hair. I felt so embarrassed about it but when I mentioned it to a mutual friend she said she’d heard of similar cases and she kindly helped me find a photo of her on Facebook. When I saw her face, I couldn’t understand how I could have forgotten what she looked like.

I've never dropped anything but when someone I knew told me that an old friend of mine had committed suicide, and how, I felt my legs give way, my knees nearly folded. I could have buckled to the floor in shock but managed somehow to keep upright.

The friend who died was a lovely person and young [40ish].

I took a phone call 27 years ago whilst babysitting my nephew saying my Niece was dying and I must get there with her little brother quickly I dropped the phone in shock and then fainted. I am not sure what happened but I couldn’t breathe and I just crumpled to the ground in the lounge. My nephew was asking me what was wrong all the way to the hospital. What a tragic event that was, still as clear in my mind as if it was yesterday.

I heard the news about Diana the same way as you from the radio first thing in the morning. I didn't drop anything but involuntarily sunk to a chair it was such a shock.

Years ago I got a letter with some very unexpected news. It was good news but such a shock that I had to sit down and put my head between my knees so I didn't pass out. Maybe it's news that's a shock/surprise that causes issues, not just bad news.

I have been sad at the deaths of focus people - John Lennon, Elvis, Diana, George Harrison (my hero) but have never dropped anything in shock as they are not my family. I dropped myself (fell to the floor) on learning that my brother had taken his own life.

Hmm seems like everyone deals with bad news differently. Fascinating how the brain functions. Sorry for all your losses.

Must say that like others I have never heard of this basketball player. DId feel sad for the child who also died though. But then I feel desperately sad for those many children dying in small boats trying to reach some sort of hoped for haven.
I give as much thought to the members of the Windsor family as they give to me - Nil!!! I do remember when Diana died as I got up early in the Sunday to attend the second day of a training course - and when I got there, the (silly) lecturer suggested we postpone it.......quickly put paid to that idea!!!
When the police brought me the news that my youngest child (aged 25yrs) was dead, I can remember (absolutely stupidly) saying 'He can't be dead, I don't have any funeral plans in operation for my children'. Suppose I was in total denial and stayed that way until two of my other children actually went to identify the body. Even then did not scream or shout or anything like that when the police were there, I did cry - but saved that screaming until I was totally alone sometime later._

Shock news can make us behave in odd ways.
When my Sister rang to tell me our Mother had died, I had just unlocked the door on my business, so I told her thank you for letting me know and carried on serving customers as though nothing had happened.
My children turned up about an hour later and asked me what did I think I was doing. I told them, I can't close and let people down, so my daughter took me home, while my Son ran my business until the staff arrived.
I was definitely in shock and just blanked the news out.

I don't react much, if at all, to news about people I don't even know. I do feel sad and sorry for them, but that's all.

I must be weird but I rarely react physically to bad news.
I have had the misfortune to take phone calls of three deaths including my Gran, and both my parents. I am a practical person so I just get on with what needs doing as a result. It doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings though.

Only a few expletives.

Once when being told a devastating piece of family news I was overcome by a feeling of tremendous hear and darkness and collapsed rapidly down on to a chair. A sort of faint I suppose.
I did actually cry when I heard Victoria Wood had died. I quite surprised myself. I was very sad about Terry Wogan too but not to the same extent. Victoria was so young.

Heat not hear.

I have received news in my life of the deaths of my parents, my sister in law, my uncle (with whom I was close) and my own baby son. In all those cases I did not cry or faint or scream. I got on with what needed to be done in a very practical manner and very calmly. With me, it was a few days later when it would really hit me and then I cried for hours on end over several days. We all react in different ways to tragedies. I have felt very sad about famous people I liked who have died, but never wept.