When is the right time to end my time of mourning?

Genesis 50:10When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan River, they held a very great and solemn memorial service, with a seven-day period of mourning for Joseph’s father.

Deuteronomy 34:7-8Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever. The people of Israel mourned for Moses on the plains of Moab for thirty days, until the customary period of mourning was over.

2 Samuel 12:21-23His [David’s] advisers were amazed. “We don’t understand you,” they told him. “While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.” David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. . . . A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.

Clearly, “there is a season, a time . . . to grieve.” For some that may be relatively brief. The usual time for mourning in the days of the Israel’s patriarchs seems to have been seven days (see Genesis 50:10); but the mourning period at Moses’ death was thirty days, and David’s mourning for the loss of his child stopped much sooner. But from all these cases, it is clear that eventually the time of outward mourning should end. This does not mean we will ever get over losing our loved ones—they will always be with us in our memories, especially in certain places and on special days. But we should get on with life, living with hope and serving God with joy.