Death by Grieving? How to respond to grief in a healthy self supportive way.

You won't die... No one has ever died from a broken heart… could I be the first? Have you ever asked yourself this question? I certainly have. Recently more than I’d like to admit.

It can feel like dying.. grief that is… and in a way we do experience it as such. Whether it be the death of a belief or connection to a relationship, an ideal, an innocence, a dependance, a job, a habit an addiction (to a person or substance) or a tie to someone who themselves has experienced physical death.

There is no controlling grief, no denying it and if you push it away it only intensifies. Distractions are a bandaid… television, games, meaningless sex, drugs/alcohol, gambling, working harder or longer than necessary, porn, procrastination, endless YouTube videos or a Tiki Tok rabbit hole…. We run from ouselves but eventually those feeling come flooding back… and in my experience grief can be accumulative.

So how do we deal with grief in a positive and healthy way? Who the hell knows! It’s different for everyone.. But I can tell you what I have learned so far…

Acceptance is key. Self love, self appreciation, self care… a gentle understanding that this is a normal natural reaction to an overwhelming loss — whatever loss that may be. There is no RIGHT or WRONG way to grieve.

Grieving is not linear… feelings of anger, depression, bargaining, denial and acceptance and variations thereof come and go like waves crashing upon the sand. The positive news? They pass… often more quickly if you just ALLOW them to be. Or at least that is what I have found... and as much as you feel you may die by allowing these emotions to manifest fully. You won't. If anything you will rise from the ashes refreshed, reborn and perhaps even whole.