Whether you’ve experienced it many times, or just once, somehow the face of grief in any serious loss hits us all just as hard, every time it comes up. It is the natural response to a deep loss of any kind, and even though we tend to think of grief mostly when someone we love passes away, there are many ways to experience loss and feel grief, and it’s important to understand what we’re feeling at any given time, so we know how to cope, and eventually get through the pain of that grief.
Grief can be experienced through:
A divorce
Losing a job
A miscarriage
Death of a pet
Loss of financial stability
Loss of a friendship
This is just a small sample of the various losses we might experience throughout our lives, and while each instance is hard to deal with, it’s how we grieve and cope to get through the other side that truly makes the difference for each individual. We all deal with grief differently. Unfortunately, some ways are healthier than others, and in some cases, people turn down darker paths simply to cope with the losses they’ve experienced.
How To Cope With Grief
There is no normal, or specific timeline for grieving. It may take you longer to cope with a loss than someone else, and there is certainly no shame in that. The pain you feel will not simply go away by just ignoring it, and you don’t have to feel as though you need to be strong. You may have heard of the ‘stages of grief’ before, but the truth is, you don’t need to go through every stage of grief in order to cope and reach acceptance. There are actual several ways to cope with grief in a healthy, effective way, and it’s important to decide what you’re most comfortable with as you begin your coping journey.
Find Support
Whether you join a specific support group, lean on friends and family, or work with a counselor or life coach, you shouldn’t have to bear any kind of grief on your own. It can be difficult sometimes to open up to others about your loss, but facing it with the support of someone else can take a huge burden off your shoulders.
Don’t be afraid to take care of yourself as you face grief. Suppressing it will only make it a harder road to walk on, and while you don’t necessarily need to follow steps in order to get through it, accepting that you’re dealing with loss, and facing it head on can be the healthiest way to get started. You don’t have to let others tell you how to feel, and you can find the support you need on a timeline that works for you.
Facing loss will never be an easy thing to go through for anyone, but with the right frame of mind, and the right support, dealing with grief doesn’t have to always seem so overwhelming.
For more information on loss and grief, visit Kristy Hellum a therapist Santa Rosa, California. She provides individual therapy, couples therapy, and therapy for teens. Her office is near downtown Santa Rosa
