Missing someone means they mattered. That ache is a receipt for something real.

What you are feeling is not a malfunction. It is proportional to how much of your life had that person in it, which means the size of the missing is a measure of what was there. People sometimes try to talk themselves out of it, as though feeling it strongly were a weakness. It is closer to evidence.

There is nothing here that needs fixing. If it helps, let the missing have a bit of room: a photograph you look at on purpose, a story told to someone who never met them, a message to whoever else is missing them too. None of it has to be hurried.