Have you recently suffered a significant loss in your life?

If you are finding it hard to navigate through the pain, there is help

Grief is a strong emotional reaction that can become very overwhelming. This intense sadness stems from loss. This might be the death of someone close to you. Sometimes grief arises when you lose something significant, like a pet, job, or health. Grief is a natural response when a loved one or you face a terminal diagnosis.

 

When coping with loss, it is easy to feel alone with your feelings. Yet, grief is a common human reaction to love. Because you have loved, the emotional response to a related loss can be intense. It can seem at times that you're drowning in a sea of emotion.

 

Common Emotional Responses to Grief

Grief is not just one emotion. It's a combination of many. When you cope with loss, you'll experience a flood of emotions. These will be unique to you. There is no right or wrong response to grief and loss. No two people process or cope with a loss in the same way. One person can experience intense anger and bitterness. Another overwhelming sadness and guilt. It is common for people to experience emotional reactions such as:

  • Shock and denial

  • Intense sadness

  • Depression

  • Anger

  • Guilt

  • Anxiety

  • Confusion

  • Regret

  • Physical symptoms like fatigue or pain

Like the ocean, these emotions can come in waves. Some days you can make it through the day. On other days, you're totally overwhelmed. It is hard to breathe. Difficult to function or work. Impossible to know how you'll ever get through this.

 

Grief is not something that you "get over." People might look to say something encouraging, such as "it gets better with time." While this comes from good intentions, it may not be what you need to hear.

 

Grief and coping with loss will change you. Thinking of this as a journey you must go through, not "get over," can be helpful. Grief is not an emotional reaction that requires a solution. But it does require action.

 

And grief counseling can help.

 

When you are grieving, you're experiencing a natural reaction to love. You have had the privilege of loving. And now that it is gone, it may not be easy to see how your life will ever be the same. This is how talking with a trained grief counselor can help.

 

Our grief does not grow smaller over time. That loss is there. Always. But when the pain of losing someone is fresh, it consumes your world. It fills you up. Think of grief as a mass that fills all the space inside. Over time, this grief does not shrink. Your life around it grows bigger. The loss is then not less significant. It just now occupies less space in your world.

 

Sometimes, however, we stop growing around the space the grief is occupying.

When to ask for help

This is hard. You should not face this journey alone. Trying to find your way through this journey of coping with loss alone is unnecessary. Everthrive Counseling can help. We have trained, compassionate counselors experienced in assisting people like you in coping with loss. They are your partners in your journey through grief. Over time they can help you create more space around your grief. So, it consumes less of you. Here are a few signs that you might benefit from grief counseling:

  • Feeling detached or emotionally numb

  • Experiencing intense anger

  • Being unable to sleep or having intense nightmares

  • Loss of appetite

  • Losing interest in activities you enjoy

  • Unable to control your thoughts, such as being able to stop thinking about your loved one

  • Your emotions are beginning to harm your other relationships

  • Guilt when you feel happy or enjoy an activity

  • Avoiding social events or spending time with others

  • Struggling to find meaning in your life

We at Everthrive Counseling encourage you to approach your emotional health with compassion, kindness, and care. Ignoring grief and the emotions that come with it does not work. Grief will appear unexpectedly when we do not honor it by expressing our sense of loss. Grief counseling can help you find new meaning in your life. We can focus on how to get through each day or strategies to help you navigate holidays and anniversaries. Counseling provides you with what you need. Connection, compassion, and someone to listen when you require it most.

Don't walk this journey alone. Let us be your guide. Contact us today at 833-473-3399 to be paired with one of our experienced grief counselors.

 

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