Change creates loss. Loss creates change. In your times of loss you may be facing a flow of changes. You may have feelings of unreality, uncertainness, fearfulness of the future. What are you thinking? These are feelings that may move you toward isolating in your pain. We may choose to isolate , feeling it is a safe place or recently we have experienced an enforced isolation due to the pandemic. Both isolations have their roots in loss ( a fear of the future and how we will cope in the new and uncertain times.) Are you feeling depressed? Are there more clouds than sunshine in your lives? Negativity begins to set in and we stuff our emotions. Often we don't realize we are depressed and don't recognize the symptoms; negativity, anger, edginess, disconnected, no energy, feeling hopeless, self loathing and can't see a future, to name some. This is a time to reach out and seek a new path that leads to Hope . Reach out to find support in a trusted friend, a counsellor or a supportive group. Coping skills - Do you feel you have any? Don't let the grief pain become overwhelming. Find a supportive network that can be an anchor for you. Try finding a gratitude for each day (a flower amidst the ashes). Be able to name your emotions and courageously dig into them. That is where healing begins. Try to remember self care. You are worth it. Spend some time in a grief break; take time for a walk, exercise, write , listen to soothing music, draw or paint, read or work in a garden. Resilience - The ability to return to the place of using strengths learned. The coping skills you have learned you will use and reuse in your changing life. (If you receive lemons, be able to make lemonade). Use self affirmations and share a positive thought with someone. Gratitude and positivity changes the brain's functions. You have the ability to move through your grief pain and move forward. Hope - We end with Hope. Hope as small as a mustard seed, is where we start. Practice it and hope will grow. Hope that each new day will bring healing, new coping skills, resilience, a supportive network that help to move forward one small step at a time, being able to say "I can make it." Please remember our children, they too experience all the pain and emotion we as adults do and as they experience changes and the pain of their grief they need our support and understanding. Behind every cloud the sun is shining, wait for the cloud to pass.
Submitted by Shirley L Scott for Walking Through Grief Society (780-846-2576) Supported by FCSS ;City of Lloydminster, Towns of Vermilion and Wainwright, Villages of Kitscoty and Marwayne, County of Vermilion River and donations.
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