Grief

Grief is like a huge tidal wave that hits you hard, knocks you off your feet and leaves you floundering and gasping for air.

Then when the waters recede you pick yourself up for a short while until the tide comes back in and takes you off your feet again.

It continues like this, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

Until one day…when the tide comes in you realise you can float and not sink. Then you realise that you can swim with the tides and eventually you learn to find peace in the ebb and flow of those tides.

Sometimes…we all need a bit of help. I know many of us put on a brave face, tell everyone around us that everything’s fine, when inside we are falling apart and struggling to hold it together.

And it might sound a bit cliché, but it really is good to talk at times like this. If you don’t have someone in your circle that will just listen, let you talk, let you cry, then please think about reaching out to some of the groups that have been set up to help people suffering with grief and loss.

There are many resources online that can help, but it needs you to find that wee bit of inner strength to make that first contact. I know it’s hard, but do it for you.

We also naturally want to find people who have experienced the same thing because they will know what we are going through and so there are many organisations out there that have been set up especially for this.

But most important of all…be kind to yourself… it’s ok not to be ok…In my darkest days I would think “would Mum want me to be like this” and I knew her answer was no, you have to live your life. Equally your loved one doesn’t want you to suffer, they want you to honour their life by living yours…so when you are ready…your life is waiting for you.

Some useful links:-

In times of grief and loss...only beauty and love shine through