How to Journey through the Valley of Grief

The grieving process may be one of the hardest challenges you will face in your lifetime. The grief you face today may be caused by death, divorce, loss of a job, financial hardships, ailing parent, illness, and the list goes on.


There are at least five stages of grief; however, there may be different levels of each stage and there is no set pattern as to when you may experience all or only some of the stages. Nevertheless, each person deals with grief in their own unique way.

Here are some practical things we can do when faced with grief to help us heal and move forward.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. REST-Give yourself time to sort through all the feelings you may be experiencing. Your body will need to heal emotionally and one of the best medicines for healing is to get proper sleep and rest.

2. NOURISHMENT-When something traumatic happens we may get so stressed we forget to eat. Or, we may lose our appetite. One thing you will need is strength so you will not make yourself sick. Even if you only have small snacks, just make sure you try to feed your body.

3. SHARE-There are times of great loss/trauma/illness when we would just like to run away and be alone. We are wondering what we will do to get through the whole ordeal. Well meaning people want to lend you support and sometimes too much information is overwhelming. If you have a close friend, family member, or counselor who can give you sound advice, then cling to them. You may not be able to make good decisions right now, so you need someone who can look objectively at your situation and listen to you and get you through this without you losing all hope and sanity.

4. PATIENCE-The one saying you should cling to is this, "YOU WILL MAKE IT THROUGH THIS SITUATION!" What you have experienced may take months or years to overcome, but you cannot lose hope. This may be a dark valley you are passing through this very moment, but morning will come one day and the sun will shine brightly again! One day you will look back down the mountain and see a lush green valley!

Tips & Warnings

• Give Yourself Time To Heal From The Sting of Grief!