Don't be afraid of grief work

I just heard about a person who experienced a huge loss in her life and who can't seem to deal with the grief of that loss because she's still stuck in deep grief over a different loss some 10-15 years earlier.

This is a reminder to me of the importance of grieving each loss as it comes into our lives. That said, grief isn't a once-and-done thing either. Still, it's essential to do whatever grief work is needed in our lives—and not just for the huge life losses such as death, divorce, debilitating illness, job loss, etc. We also need to grieve for  what some see as lesser losses: losing a friend for one reason or another, losses of ability as we age (hearing, eyesight, mobility and more), and other things such as favorite places when we move from one city to another or even from one neighborhood to another.

Life can be filled with losses, large and small. It's important to stop and take the time to feel the sadness and do whatever you need to do that will allow you to move on. Because grief is a process, you may need to spend some time again later working on the sadness you feel. That's OK. Just don't skip over your feelings as though the loss didn't matter. It does. And your feelings matter.

Stay clear and cleaned out as much as possible by facing things as they occur. If this is something about which you'd like to talk, please contact me.