Grief and Loss
The irony of grief is that every single one of us will go through it, yet among all the things we learn as we grow up, nobody teaches us how to be with it and what we can do to help us move through it. Nobody prepares us for even the general things we may feel. Nobody helps us learn that there are not just emotional but physical symptoms of grief, and that these symptoms are normal. Nobody assures us that while grief can make us feel “crazy”, we aren’t. Certainly, nobody teaches us the practical things we can do in order to get through our grief. In our lifetime, we will also know others who grieve, yet nobody tells us how we can best support them. It’s no wonder that when we encounter loss and we grieve, we don’t know what to do, we don’t if what we feel is “normal”, and we feel let down by others who may be well intentioned, but don’t help us. On top of the pain of our grief, we may feel even more isolation and despair.
“What can you do if you’re grieving?"
No matter how long you have been grieving a loss, have patience with yourself. Nobody taught you how to do this, after all. Alongside your patience, you’ll need some practical tools toward coping as you heal and a safe, confidential, unhurried space in which you can grieve honestly. Without needing to seem “fine” in the way you may feel pressured to seem to the outside world.
“Why is getting proper support important?”
Grief and stress can intensify existing health problems and create new ones, if we don’t get meaningful support (and if we aren’t engaging in self-care). We may feel guilty related to an aspect of our loss and deny ourselves any support or self-care because we don’t feel worthy of it. If we’re in recovery from an addiction, grief and loss can be a trigger for relapse. These are all reasons why grief is so challenging and why it’s so important to get support in processing it, in learning simple ways we can support ourselves through it, and learning how to share with both colleagues, friends, and family members how they can best be there for us. Our health and well-being truly depend upon it.
Grief Education Seminars
Learning about grief and loss more in-depth can benefit your work environment, the way you handle relationships, and in professional settings. Jacksonville Center for Grief and Loss can provide information and education on grief for seminars, conventions, and larger events to let a broad range of people increase their knowledge on human loss.