Is Your Grief Consuming You?
Jun 07, 2020
Grief is an unfortunate, yet unavoidable part of the human experience. As you are probably well aware, life can seem anything but fair at times. Although there are somewhat universal stages people experience during the grieving process, the extent and timeframes as a whole vary greatly from person to person.
Although grief is an extremely powerful emotion, there is such a thing as excessive grief. Make no mistake; the grieving process is always a difficult one. However, if left unresolved, grief can quickly consume your life. Even though everyone experiences grief differently, no one should let this emotion influence their life inevitably.
In this article, we will discuss several indicators that grief is taking control of your quality of life. If you or someone you know is exhibiting any of these responses, it is important to seek help or intervene.
You Are Completely Isolating Yourself
Needing to be alone is a natural and healthy part of the grieving process. Truth be told, alone time is important even in the absence of grief. Adequate time to process thoughts and sort out emotional clutter is beneficial.
Unfortunately, however, this can quickly lead to a state of isolation in which you shut yourself off completely to the outside world and seek complete solitude.
While part of the process does involve some alone time, this does not mean in its entirety. There are bound to be thoughts and emotions that you need to express to someone close to you in order to release the tension that can be very harmful if allowed to fester.
You Feel Guilty About Being Happy Or Having Fun
It is not unusual when dealing with a traumatic event related to someone you know to feel as if you are wrong for experiencing anything but sadness in the aftermath. You may feel as if these emotions are disrespectful to the individual or that their memory is being erased.
During the grieving process, it is important to let these emotions, and any other emotions, to come and go naturally.
While you will almost certainly not feel happiness or excitement early in the process, you must avoid suppressing these things when they do come. You are not doing any disservice to the individual or situation that is causing you to grieve by allowing positive thoughts and emotions to come into your life.
You Have Lost Interest In Things You Enjoy
Any time you let grief strip away your interest in activities and hobbies that you normally enjoy for an extended period of time, the grief is consuming you. Once again, this can be a normal part of the early grieving process.
However, allowing a traumatic change in life to change the REST of your life is extremely detrimental. If this happens, it is important to ask yourself why you feel this way. Maybe the activity in question was something you used to enjoy with someone you have lost, you may be exhibiting the previous response we discussed and feel bad about enjoying the activity.
Whatever the case may be, it is important that you at least allow yourself to go through the motions regarding your usual interests. You may even try something new. Either way, having some form of external outlet to assist you in the process is much needed, so long as this outlet is not harmful.
In Conclusion
If and when you find yourself going through the process of grief, know that it will take some time to heal. However, it is important that you ALLOW yourself to experience healing. Don’t let a negative event in your life mitigate your future happiness and joy.
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