Grief...

Today I wanted to address something that has been weighing on my heart for a while now, grief. Here’s a little backstory for you…

I am a Registered Nurse and when I was about six months into my first nursing position, Covid-19 hit. At my hospital I was the first nurse to have a Covid positive patient. A few weeks after that I got an offer to work at a bigger hospital in their Covid unit. Since I had been caring for Covid patients at my hospital, I knew I would be a good addition to this new place. This is when I first really dealt with grief. I was experiencing grief for the patients that were lost, and I was helping so many families with their grief of losing their loved ones. Fast forward a year or so, my mother passed away at 59 years old, and grief hit me hard. Still to this day, almost 2 years later, I am still processing the grief of my mother. And like you, have felt so alone in my feelings. 

According to the American Psychological Association, grief is the sorrow experienced after significant loss, like the death of a beloved person. Grief can also be felt with separation anxiety, dwelling on the past, anxiety about the future, leaving a relationship, loss of job and pretty much anything that brings anguish to our lives. The Recovery Village site states that yearly there are over 2.5 million deaths in the US, which leaves around 5 people per each death that have to process grief. That's a lot of grief. 

There are five major phases of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These phases do not necessarily need to be followed in this exact order, however many grief therapists agree that we need to experience all phases before we can officially move on with our lives in a healthy manner. 

It is said that the grief journey is different for everyone, however we are really not alone in the journey. When we process our grief by ourselves, we have a high probability of getting stuck in the Depression phase of grief. Which is why it is very important that we are supporting the people in our lives that are dealing with grief. 

There are so many things we can do to get support and help process our feelings, yet most of us don’t know what to do. That is a major goal of mine with this blog, is to help people find successful ways to process their grief and come out on the other side. 

In my next posts I will lay out action steps to help process each phase of grief and address the benefits of therapy as well as how to find the best therapist for you.

I am walking with you through this time and please remember, you are not alone. 

Until next time XOXO