What have you stopped doing since experiencing the death of your loved one?  More specifically, what do you no longer do that you used to previously enjoy or find fulfilling? These may be things that you stopped doing them because you don't have the time, they require too much effort, they remind you of your loved one, or they seem less fun.  These are things like walking your dog in the evening, going to church on Sunday, getting a hair cut, cooking dinner a few times a week, art, listening to music, coffee with a friend, journaling, finding daily gratitudes, new hobbies, 20 minutes of exercise, going to the movies, reading, going on a vacation, scrapbooking, building something, volunteering.

Now what if I told you that by deliberately deciding to do these things again, or by choosing new things to try, that you might start to feel a little bit better? Or that by doing these things you were actually, in many ways, coping with your grief?

As if parenting we’re hard enough, you’ve recently experienced the death of someone you love. You’ve done your best to shelter your children from death, loss, and grief for their entire lives, and now it seems you have no choice but to allow these frightening realities into your family home.  Even if your child is not directly impacted by the loss, the pain of one family member often affects the family as a whole. In order for you, the parent or guardian, to be an engaged, patient, consistent, and loving presence, you have to deal with the intense emotional, mental, and physical impact of grief.  In this episode of the What's Your Grief podcast, we discuss the reasons why grieving parents and guardians tend to put their own grief on the back burner and we provide a rationale for why and how you should find time to cope with your grief related thoughts, emotions, and experiences.

Show Notes: www.whatsyourgrief.com/thirty-five