You can listen to the audio version of this article.
Unfortunately, it’s something that we will all have to deal with at some point in our lives. Losing a loved one can be an incredibly tough experience, especially if they are close family or friends. Nobody finds this process easy and sharing your thoughts and feelings with friends and family is one of the healthy ways to deal with emotions. Bottling them up can feel good at the time but it often just makes things worse. Here is how you can deal with your grief in a healthy way.
Accepting grief
One of the things that can help when coping with grief is accepting your feelings. Grief will not all come at once and will likely be spread over days, weeks or even months. Whenever you feel emotions coming up then it’s always best to accept them and let them out. If you are with friends or family, they will more than understand, and it can sometimes be nice to have someone with you to share these feelings with.
When people think of feelings associated with grief, they may think of sadness, numbness, tiredness, and exhaustion. These are all common, but sometimes people can experience other feelings based on the circumstances of someone’s death. People may feel anger or resentment if crime or medical negligence has been involved. According to Minton Morrill Solicitors in Leeds: ‘You may be able to claim substantial financial compensation if there has been substandard medical care.’ This may be something to consider when the time is right.
Dealing with grief
As was mentioned before, accepting and letting your feelings out is one really positive way to deal with grief. In addition, there are a number of other activities that can help, which include:
- Keep up your routine – Sticking to a routine that you have can help you to get through the day. It can be useful to segment the day into different chunks which will help you to feel like you have accomplished something. Doing really simple tasks like housework or cooking a meal will help to keep you occupied.
- Do light exercise – Exercise can release endorphins that will help you to feel happy and will help to give you more energy. Even going out for a short jog or a light walk will help to release these hormones. It can also help with getting out of the house. Doing exercise will give you a reason to get out of the house too and will give you something to focus on while you are out.
- Try and keep doing the things you love – If you love cooking, then bake some cakes for the local community. If you love going to clubs or local groups like gardening or singing it might be good to keep attending these when you feel ready to. Doing these activities will help to keep you happy, and it’s a good opportunity to socialise with people that you already know.
- Go to counselling sessions – This may not be for everyone, so it’s important to only do this if you feel it’s right for you. Finding a good councillor can really help you to get in touch with your feelings and share them with someone who is trained to help you deal with them in a healthy and a positive way.
Dennis Relojo-Howell is the managing director of Psychreg.
