8 Suggestions for Coping With Grief

Understanding Grief / Understanding Grief : Eleanor Haley



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Suggestion #1: Recognize that no set of steps, tasks, stages, or method could ever tell you how to get over, move on from, let go of, or resolve grief.

Certain conceptualizations and grief theories make it seem as though life after the death of a loved one is like a board game with a start and a finish. You begin in one place, experience some setbacks and some luck along the way, and eventually, get spit out on the other end.  Those who've experienced grief know that it's far more complicated and ongoing.  One doesn't simply sit down to play the 'Game of Grief', rather grief is something that must be processed over time and which, for many, will become a part of their ongoing everyday life.

grief game

Suggestion #2:  Recognize that life will never be exactly the same

After a death, one should expect things to change.  Unfortunately, many people believe that life will eventually go back to 'normal' or that they will start to feel like 'their old self' again. This misconception often leads to grieving people feeling frustrated, weak, or abnormal when try as they may, they can't get back to their pre-grief-self.  This belief also may lead family and friends to compare the bereaved to 'normal' or to hold onto the expectation that the bereaved person will someday fit back into their same old mold.

Remember, it's okay to change and different doesn't equal bad.

friends-change

Suggestion #3: Train your brain, body, and heart to tolerate pain

Pain is unavoidable in grief, yet many people go to great lengths to try and escape it. Avoidance is okay at times, but when used as a person's one-and-only coping skill it can become a harmful cycle that exists to the detriment of personal healing.  Many mistakenly think that if they make efforts to avoid their feelings for long enough these unpleasant emotions will be kept at bay or fade away, when in actuality deliberate attempts to suppress certain thoughts often make them more likely to surface.

If you're grieving the death of a loved one, you will experience painful thoughts, emotions, and memories and you won't always know when, where, why, or how. Knowing that these experiences are likely to happen may cause you a fair amount anticipatory anxiety, but instead of spending your days figuring out how to avoid grief triggers, we suggest that you try and learn to tolerate them.

Not sure how? Start here:

  • Identify positive coping skills:  Identify coping skills that will help you deal with distress, rather than avoid it. Tools like relaxation and mindfulness techniques can help in the moment. So can calling a friend; creative expression (journaling or art); finding ways to put the moment into perspective (finding humor or seeking gratitude), and identifying ways to decompress as soon as the moment has passed.
  • Be realistic: Research has shown that people are pretty bad at predicting their emotional responses to future events. Although people are usually able to anticipate the types of emotions they will experience, they often believe negative experiences will be far more painful than they truly are. The anxiety and fear of anticipating and avoiding an event are often far worse than the actual experience.
  • Just go with it: Here's the thing about distressing emotions, most of the time they become intense, peak, and then dissipate.  You will probably find that if you allow yourself to stay in the distressing moment that the anxiety and emotion will wash over you and then recede.
heart

Suggestion #4: Learn from the tough stuff. Throw away the bad stuff. Hold onto the good stuff.

Some experiences are hard, but they help you grow.  Sift through these experiences and learn what you can from them.  When you're done, it's okay to let go of what's left.

Much of life is grist for the mill.  That said, some people, behaviors, thoughts, beliefs, and experiences are unhelpful, distracting, or downright toxic.  Let these things go as soon as possible.

Finally, some lessons, thoughts, and memories are wonderful, warm, comforting, inspiring, helpful, and so on. Keep these things, hold onto them tightly, and find excuses to relish in them as often as possible.

box-2

Suggestion #5: Keep living life one day at a time.

Living the rest of your life without your loved one seems like an impossibility, and living with grief for the rest of your life seems insufferable. Keep getting up and living life one day at a time anyway.  Keep learning, keep throwing away the bad stuff, and keep remembering the good. Slowly but surely you'll find that by living life one day at a time, you've made it to a place where forever doesn't seem quite so long.

days

Suggestion #6: Let people help you

If you have a support system of people who want to help you, let them!  Ask for help, tell them what you need, and communicate.  Having (and utilizing) social support is correlated with positive adjustment and increased well-being in people who have experienced loss, trauma, or other hardship.

friends

If you don't feel that you have a good support system, start here.


Suggestion #7: Find ways to keep your loved one in your life.

For many people, an important part of grieving is figuring out how to have a relationship with the deceased despite their physical absence.  People stay connected to deceased loved ones in many ways including through:

  • thoughts and memories
  • speaking about them
  • allowing their memory to help guide actions, values, and decisions
  • participating in private rituals
  • finding other unique ways to keep their memory alive.

The ongoing role your loved one plays in your life depends on who you are, who they were, the relationship you had with them, and the stage of life you are in right now. Just know that while holding onto a deceased loved one is a normal and healthy part of loving and grieving them.

mom

Suggestion #8: Repeat indefinitely.

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After writing online articles for What’s Your Grief for over a decade, we finally wrote a tangible, real-life book!

What’s Your Grief? Lists to Help you Through Any Loss is for people experiencing any type of loss. This book discusses some of the most common grief experiences and breaks down psychological concepts to help you understand your thoughts and emotions. It also shares useful coping tools, and helps the reader reflect on their unique relationship with grief and loss.

You can find What’s Your Grief? Lists to Help you Through Any Loss wherever you buy books:

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9 Comments on "8 Suggestions for Coping With Grief"

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  1. Marion Beddoe-Iobst  February 15, 2019 at 8:41 am Reply

    My beloved died unexpectedly ten years ago. I can tell you about my grief, but not about yours. You can tell me about your grief, but not about mine. However, as humans together we can help bear each other’s pain. The pain is bearable and becomes a part of who you are. Take the pain and share it. Be with each other.

  2. Vicki  April 27, 2017 at 10:25 pm Reply

    Excuse me for saying so, but I’ll never believe a person should “learn” how to take the pain of watching while your loved on is trapped inside Tower 1 with no possibilities of survival bc all 5 outlets were PURPOSELY cut off when the monsters who did it “banked the plane at the last minute” for that very reason. They were trying to kill as many people as they’d never met as was possible for them to kill, and I say it like that because I hope they WILL look as stupid as I think they are. It’s impossible to have neverending rivers of sympathy for them. I want the remainder of them to stay in prison and believe it or not what’s happening to them at Guantanamo and their trial is part of my grief on this issue. You feel like you’ve been revictimized by the system that’s SUPPOSED to put the murderer in jail when his attorney suggests all these “plea deals” to get him less time.
    I’ve never had a series of bad days that come one after another after another in all the time I’ve been dealing with his death since it occurred in 2001. Which is why I have no idea how to handle it, I just know that I’ve been inconsolable for 3 days straight with no break at all in the pattern. No way to force myself to be a tiny bit happier. The things I was doing before that were working suddenly stopped and I have no idea why. It seems like finding a therapist and talking about it has worsened everything, not made it better like I thought it was supposed to do.
    I guess I’ll have to tell her that the next time I see her. It’s kind of alarming to me to feel all these emotions and suddenly have no control over them.
    I hope it gets better because this is downright alarming.

  3. Carol  January 7, 2017 at 3:37 am Reply

    My deepest condolences and sympathies on your loss, Denise, Madge and Barbara. I’m so sorry. I’m so grateful to this site. There is so much good information. I know I need it. My father passed away three months ago. I am lost. I keep asking why? but there are no acceptable answers. None. I torture myself with what I could have done to save him. The what-ifs haunt me. I keep looking for something to help me understand. At least I know I am not alone in my pain when I am here at this site.

  4. Barbara Lasher  December 23, 2016 at 9:28 am Reply

    My precious son, Julian took his own life on October 21, 2016. We are devastated and in total shock since no one saw this coming. Thank you for concrete steps to help the newly bereaved. Christmas is overwhelming this year.

    • anna  January 27, 2017 at 8:38 pm Reply

      so very sorry for your loss. I truly understand your grief. my beautiful son ended his life one year ago. it is so painful and so many whys.

  5. Madge B.  December 12, 2016 at 4:06 pm Reply

    My husband passed away suddenly18 months ago and I am working through both grief and all the details of what he left behind in earthly possessions. I try to focus on all the good things we had together in our marriage of 51 years and that helps a lot. I also pace myself in finding homes for all of his many things. Letting go of grief for me is remembering that my happiness is not held captive by the past. Rather I am open to new experiences and people to generate new joys and a meaningful life.

  6. Denise casey  November 30, 2016 at 6:56 pm Reply

    My Mam died on the 10/10/16 and it’s so unbelievable… Why are we all still going about our daily lives ??? My heart is shattered ??

  7. Holly Asciutto  November 30, 2016 at 10:11 am Reply

    I so want to walk with you all day by day to glean from your wisdom. You communicate what I have felt and intuitively known but have not had the words to express. Thank you. If you are ever looking for a passionate experienced griever please give me a shout out.

    • Litsa  December 1, 2016 at 11:40 am Reply

      Aw thanks Holly!

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