What is grief?
Grief is a natural response to loss. It's the emotional suffering you feel when something or someone you care about and love is taken away. Some individuals associate grieving to the death or loss of a loved one, but grief can also include: divorce or relationship breakups, declining health, job loss, financial hardship, a miscarriage, retirement, death of a pet, inability to achieve goals, loved one's serious illness, loss of a friendship, loss of safety after trauma, moving away from home, changing jobs, graduating high school/college, or selling the family home.
How do you cope with grief?
We experience grief and loss in many different ways. Part of the grief process is managing how to make sense of what happened, how to cope with your grief, and eventually finding a way to pick up the pieces and move forward following your loss.
What does the grieving process look like?
Grieving is a highly individual experience that looks different for everyone. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. What this process looks like for each individual depends on your personality, values, coping style, life experience, attachment style, and how significant the loss means to you. The grieving process takes time, and healing happens gradually. Sadness, guilt, anger, denial, pain, and regret are common faces of grief, and although the grief recovery process looks different for everyone, having a safe place to explore your loss is an essential starting place for recovery.
Therapy for grief and loss can help you find answers to:
- Coming to terms with your loss and the various ways in which it will change and alter your life
- Acknowledging your pain
- Accepting that grief can trigger many different and unexpected emotions
- Understanding that your grieving process will be unique to you
- Seeking out face-to-face support from people who care about you
- Supporting yourself emotionally by taking care of yourself physically
- Working through and processing the gut-wrenching pain of grief
- Weaving your loss into your personal narrative in a way that honors your loss and allows you to live your life fully in the present
Helpful links for learning more about grief and loss therapy and counseling
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