Grief is something that many people experience at different stages of their lives, whether it’s a loss of a loved one or grieving for a diagnosis. Today is the start of National Grief week.
Grief is a big part of mental health and wellbeing and grief will be constant. It may take you 6 months to reach the last stage of the 5 stages of grief which is acceptance or it may take 10 years. However, there will always be a part of you that misses the person you lost or misses the part of you that’s gone since the diagnosis.
The Grief of Living with Illness
It is hard to go through grief. Here is a video that goes through some techniques of how to handle that grief : Coping with Grief: 9 Tips & Activities from A Therapist Not of these techniques will be right for you. It may take a while to find those techniques that work for you so take your time as grief doesn’t have a timeframe.
Here are two stories talking about grief!
🐌 We don’t “move on” from grief. We move forward with it
🦇 The journey through loss and grief | Jason B. Rosenthal
What can you grieve?
- Loss of a person
- Loss of an animal/pet
- A diagnoses
- An opportunity that you missed out on
- Something that is hard to change e.g. climate change
What are the symptoms of grief?
🐬 Shock and numbness
🐙 Overwhelming sadness
🦉 Tiredness or exhaustion
🐕🦺 Anger
🦥 Guilt
Compassion is something people can struggle with giving people after they lose someone or grieving for a diagnosis. People seem to not know how to act or what to say. People can become awkward. Here is a video that helps people know how to be compassionate in times of grief : Leave Your Light On; Compassion in a Time of Grief
Overall, grief comes in many forms. You may feel like you’re ok but then it hits and that’s ok. It’s about having techniques to be able to go through the motions of grief. It’s nothing to feel ashamed about so ask for help as there are many therapists and counsellors that specialise in grief.