03-08-2021 07:20 PM
03-08-2021 07:20 PM
I'm glad you are here tonight @Zoe7
I remember you lost a friend last year - a person who you had known for a long time
It takes a long time when someone has gone forever - it really causes a lot of pain - I was totally unprepared for that kind of loss
03-08-2021 07:21 PM
03-08-2021 07:21 PM
Question 2: How do you define grief and loss? How are they related? @amandaGL
03-08-2021 07:21 PM
03-08-2021 07:21 PM
Hi @Zoe7
It's lovely to see you here tonight
I'm so sorry to hear about your loss
Sending you some very gentle hugs
Take care,
ShiningStar
03-08-2021 07:21 PM
03-08-2021 07:21 PM
Question 2: How do you define grief and loss? How are they related? @amandaGL
Grief is a normal and adaptive reaction to the loss of something dear to us. As the saying goes; grief is the price we pay for love...it’s a universal human experience and yet each person’s grief response is as unique as their fingerprint. It’s a powerful, unpredictable and often uncontrollable state of being that affects us physically, emotionally, mentally and sometimes spiritually.
A loss involves change and a sense of realisation that some aspect of life we have valued or cherished has gone in the way we once knew it, whether it be the death of a person or pet, or a ‘living loss’. Like the loss of a relationship; end of a career; physical or mental incapacity; loss of predictability in our lives (i.e. pandemics); loss of a home etc.
03-08-2021 07:21 PM
03-08-2021 07:21 PM
Like you too @Owlunar It was sudden and unexpected - makes it so much harder.
03-08-2021 07:21 PM
03-08-2021 07:21 PM
03-08-2021 07:23 PM
03-08-2021 07:23 PM
My son died in Juvenile Detention 35 years ago @Daisydreamer
For years I was able to get on with life but there were times when it was some kind of nightmare I couldn't wake up from and I had a pain in my heart that was enormous
I allowed myself to stay with this even though people told me it would destroy me but it didn't. Time passed and I found I became a better person because of it
Sitting with grief is really hard - but we cannot get away from it whatever we do - it's better to learn as much as we can while living with it
03-08-2021 07:23 PM
03-08-2021 07:23 PM
Hi everyone, I look forwards to tonights talk and learning lots, not really sure what stage of acceptance i am at after losing a loved one. As I did not seek counselling at the time and i realise that probably now as i am older it would be a good time to think about that sort of thing 🙂
03-08-2021 07:24 PM - edited 03-08-2021 07:25 PM
03-08-2021 07:24 PM - edited 03-08-2021 07:25 PM
@Daisydreamer @amandaGL I think the biggest problem with losing my dear friend last year has been he was in a different state - travelling around - and his death need not have happened. Both of those things are hard as there was no justice for his death and no funeral I could attend to start that grieving process - it still feels very unreal as a result.
03-08-2021 07:25 PM
03-08-2021 07:25 PM
Yes @Zoe7
There is the death and a sudden death - sometimes a violent death - it can be a double or tripple whammy and you are right - there is never time to get passed it easily because life goes on and many people are unaware of how devastated we are and seem unable to give us that time
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