Grief: Supporting Yourself Emotionally, Socially, and Spiritually
Jun 14, 2020
The pain of loss can feel very overwhelming and stressful, especially in difficult times like these where it feels like everyone is grieving in some form or another. It can be easy to push away and invalidate your own feelings when comparing them to what others are going through, but it is important to sit down with them and recognize why you are feeling this way. It is very important to process grief in a healthy way so you can protect your emotional and psychological health.
There are many ways to support yourself emotionally, socially, and spiritually and below are a few techniques to do so.
Acknowledging Grief
Recognizing that you are experiencing a loss of some sort during these challenging times is one of the first paths to recovery and support for yourself. Rather than comparing your loss to that of someone else, it is important to realize that you are feeling these emotions for a reason.
When you bottle up your emotions and make yourself feel invalid because of what someone else may be going through, your trauma and grief will continue to resurface. This will occur until you are able to sit with these feelings and acknowledge the grief you are experiencing.
Emotionally
During times of grief, it is quite common to feel very intense and mixed emotions and you may feel that you are on an emotional rollercoaster. These emotions can be confusing and can make you feel lost and out of touch with reality and the structure that you used to have.
Connecting with yourself emotionally is very important through difficult times because it can allow you to properly surface your emotions and understand why you are feeling the way you are. This can be done through journaling and writing out the emotions you are experiencing, so that you can analyze them and find patterns or trends.
Another helpful way to allow your emotions to run freely and connect with your mind and heart is through meditation and deep breathing. These practices will help you to stabilize your emotional state and find a balance when your structure feels lost.
Socially
Without the ability to communicate face-to-face with friends and those who do not live with you during times like these, you can feel very isolated and lonely which can make grieving much worse. It is very hard to feel supported without the ability to interact with humans, so it is important to recognize that it is normal to feel distant from the world.
With the ability to connect and communicate through technology, you may want to participate in group video chats with friends and group messages in order to feel as connected and supported as possible. This may help you to grieve your losses and still let out your emotions, so you do not feel like you are going through this alone. Often times, it can be very helpful to know and acknowledge that others are going through the same things and feeling the same emotions as you are.
Spiritually
One of the ways that you can support yourself through difficult times and grieving is to understand and connect with your spirituality. Finding yourself in deep and intense emotions can be scary and may make you feel disconnected to your mind and body.
There are many ways to focus on your mind and spirituality to help you find connection and comfort during times of grief. It can mean spending more time in nature, discovering new breathing techniques to become more present and mindful, or reading spiritual books to learn new things.
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