Grief and Loss Review
Grief and loss is a broad category that encompasses death and dying, grief recovery, grief resources and every type of loss imaginable. From losing a loved one to losing your job, grief and loss includes a variety of dimensions that affect each and every one of us in our daily lives.
The loss of a loved one is the predominant category of course. Grief and loss is often immediately associated with death, even though it is equally applicable to the loss of a relationship or the family pet. Getting over grief and loss is what occupies peoples minds the most.
Divorce, relationship breakup and death of a pet will generate powerful grief reactions. Losing one’s home, employment and place of business are equally powerful in their grief and loss effects. We typically do not associate such losses with the grief and loss experience. It turns out that they do affect us in similar ways to the primary experience of losing a loved one.
What is central to this article is that grief and loss affects us in almost every aspect of our lives. We recoil over the loss of a job. We fall into depression over the loss of our home. We grieve the death of our pets. We agonize over a recent divorce. And of course, we cry over the loss of loved ones.
What is the central point here? Why do we examine grief and loss from all these points of view? Because at the heart of every crisis is an emotional wound. We feel hurt, depressed and sad. We feel lost and afraid. Something we valued has been taken away. We feel pain associated with any loss and that usually elicits anger as a first response. These reactions are typical in every type of grief and loss experience.
We begin to see that the experience of grief and loss applies to every aspect of our lives. Learning to grieve and relieve ourselves of stress is the key to a healthy recovery. Grief work and stress relief provide the necessary bounce back for our energy and drive. Grieving, in all its varied forms, is far more common than we may have realized.
Gaining and losing are part of the cycle of life. A snake sheds its old skin so that new growth underneath can emerge. We typically see most losses as devastating when, in fact, they may be a prelude to something new and exciting. Learning to let go is essential to the process of recovery from any loss.
Losing a loved one is a powerful and devastating experience and one we never solicit consciously. This is the most difficult of all losses and we acknowledge that it is hard to see any benefit in it. But losing and gaining are with us everyday in a great variety of forms. Learning to cope with all types of loss will help us when the big losses strike. Finding the right resources is essential to managing our grief and loss experience.
Dealing with grief and loss requires that we face our emotions and work through them. Acquiring a good resource, turning toward family and friends and sharing our sorrow can lead to new and deeper relationships. There are secret benefits to all of life’s trials, even though it make take years to see them. The main lesson from grief and loss is that something awaits us on the other side of the experience.
