Grief

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Things have been very busy with work and I'm aware that I probably should have posted something by now.

Today's post is going to be about grief - something that has affected all of us in one way or another in our lives and especially during the past year of this pandemic. When we think of grief we tend to think of losing someone. There are other forms of grief though that we may not have necessarily thought of as grief before.

During this pandemic all of our lives have changed. We can't see our loved ones, we can't do what we would normally do on a day to day basis and we are stuck at home. We have lost changes in our normal routines and familiar patterns of behaviour and some of us have tragically lost friends or family due to Covid-19.

Whatever the loss is our mind and body will react to the change. Something or someone that was once there is no longer there. There have been changes and they can be hard to accept and we may be grieving these losses.

Sophia Bush said this about losing her friend and ex - boyfriend Dan Fredinburg in 2015 "There were days I felt like my body had been turned inside out. I felt like my heart was on the outside of my body and everyone who came near me was stabbing me."

These feelings are entirely normal and it's a reaction to a sudden change in our lives. There is no "right" feeling to have or "right" way to grieve, we all go through different emotions and we are all trying to make sense of things in our way, so there is no right or wrong way of doing things. We may become a bit more irritable with people, we may become a bit more closed off, this is completely normal.

One thing that we can all do though is talk. Rio Ferdinand said that he learnt that "talking is so important" after his late wife, Rebecca Ellison passed away. He also added "talking doesn't make the pain go away but it does help."

We've all been through a lot of change over this past year and talking, to a friend, colleague or family member can really help. If we don't talk about it we're just letting the emotions fester inside us and then they come out in unhealthy ways. During times of grief it's important to take care of ourselves physically and mentally. For example, getting a good night's sleep or writing down your feelings or phoning a friend to talk.

It's important to give yourself time. Grief has no time limit and some days may feel better than others and that's ok too. As I said earlier there's no "right" way to grieve. Some of us may cry at what's going on at the moment and the changes that are happening. Others may have their good days and bad days where they feel angry, frustrated and upset. That's ok, no one's journey is the same.

However we cope, t's important to talk and to allow ourselves to feel what we are feeling and not to run away from our emotions and to give ourselves time to grieve the sense of loss.

To find out more about grief, click here. and for helpful contact information and more information about loss and bereavement click here.

Take care and stay safe.