5 Ways to Understand and Accept Grief

Going through any form of loss in your life, from loss of a loved one to loss of your health, can be difficult to comprehend.

Loss and grief are sadly a regular occurrence in most people’s lives, but when they happen it can be hard to know how to process the difficult emotions that accompany them.

But the more we come to understand these feelings and recognize them when they occur, the easier it will be to cope with the different types of losses that occur throughout our lives.

When you are aware of your grief and do things to help you get through it, then you can begin to move forward and continue living a happy and productive life.

Here are five ways to understand and accept your grief, no matter what loss you may face.

Understand It’s Okay to Struggle--

Whatever has happened to trigger the grief, from losing a loved one, ending a relationship, or receiving a cancer diagnosis, it’s important to understand that it’s okay to not feel okay and to struggle with understanding what is happening.

When you are grieving you are obviously going to be upset and might even go into depression, not be able to sleep, or a myriad of other reactions.

The important thing is to let yourself feel what you need to feel in order to process through it all. Do not try to push down your feelings or pretend that it isn't greatly affecting you.

Talk to Someone You Feel Comfortable With--

Sometimes it’s easier to acknowledge and express our feelings of sadness and grief to someone other than ourselves. So, if this is something that you feel, reach out to someone you can share these emotions with.

Whether it is a family member, a close friend, someone from the church you attend, or whomever they may be is not important, as long as you feel good about talking to them and openly discussing what you need to in order to process your grief.

Opening up to someone can really help you to find some relief and articulate all the things that are going through your head and heart.

Seek out a Professional--

Sometimes a friend or family member just doesn’t cut it when it comes to the type of grief you are experiencing, so in this case, it's best to contact someone who is a professional in grief counseling or just a therapist or psychologist.

Another option in regards to a more professional environment is to find a grief group that may pertain to the loss you are experiencing. Most of these can be found online and in your community, or you can find more information from your therapist or psychologist.

If the type of grief you are experiencing stems from something health-related, such as a cancer diagnosis you can go to a place such as the Teton Cancer Institute and they will most likely have many tools for you to help process the grief you are feeling throughout your cancer journey. You can also find many other facilities such as this all over the United States to help you.

Learn from Your Experience--

As difficult as your grief is, especially at the time when you are in the deep trenches of it, you can learn so much from going through it.

The good news is that you most likely won’t be experiencing this forever, and when you get to a point where you feel you can look back and see all the things that you learned as you grieved, you will be able to see how much you’ve grown and hopefully take that knowledge to better yourself and to possibly help someone who may be going through a similar circumstance.

Give Back--

In some cases, even when you feel really low and are still processing many aspects of the grieving process, one of the best things you can do to lift your spirits and fill the void that may have appeared from your loss is to get out and serve other people.

Even if it starts with something small such as bringing the treats for your grief group, or volunteering for a clean-up project, you will find that putting your energy and effort into something outside of yourself and your own feelings can bring back some of the happiness that you may feel you lost and even help you to forget just for a little while what you are going through.