How to Deal with Grief and Loss

We experience grief when we lose a valued entity in our life. This can be a human or an animal; or it can even be the end of a relationship, such as a breakup. There are five stages to grief: (1) Denial and Isolation (2) Anger (3) Bargaining (4) Depression (5) Acceptance. We do not always go through all the stages in the same order nor do we experience all the stages. 
 
Grief a tremendously painful experience. There are many things our environment that will remind of us what we have lost. The more meaningful the loss, the more often it will get triggered. It is important to allow yourself to feel the grief as it comes to you because burying the emotions will only prolong the process of healing.
 
However, grieving with these intense emotional sensations takes its toll on our bodies. It is exhausting. Therefore, we need to find some relief from our suffering. Some people choose to take time off work. Others choose to continue working to distract themselves from the pain. Some distraction can be helpful if it is not self-destructive, such as engaging in excessive alcohol consumption to numb the pain. 
 
During the grieving process, it is more important than ever to take care of ourselves physically due the stress our body is experiencing. This is especially important for the people stuck in the depression stage. If we do not take care of ourselves physically or worse, engage in self-destructive habits, then we prolong the healing process, which increases the duration of the suffering. 
 
Just because you are grieving does not mean that you are not allowed to have fun when the opportunity arises. If you find that you are enjoying your day after experiencing a heavy loss, it is important to not feel guilty. You are not betraying the loss in your life by finding pleasure in your day. We can process the pain and find relief from the pain while going through the grieving process. If you are experiencing grief, I hope that you allow yourself some alleviation from the pain throughout the process. It can be an important part of the healing. Just remember that alleviation from the pain should not be self-destructive.