Grief is a perfectly natural response to losing a loved one. Put simply, it’s the emotional suffering that an individual feels when someone or something you love is taken away. Often, this pain from loss can be overwhelming. During this period of time, you may experience all sorts of unexpected emotions and difficulty, from disbelief to anger or shock, profound sadness and guilt. The pain that someone will feel from guilt can additionally disrupt your own physical health too, making it much more difficult to eat, sleep, or think straight. Below we give some advice on how you can personally deal with the process of grief.
The process of grieving
Grieving can be an incredibly individual process; there is no wrong or right way to grieve. How you choose to grieve can depend on a number of factors, including your coping style and personality, your faith, your life experience, and how significant the impact of the loss has been for you.
Inevitably, this process of grieving can take a long time for some people. Healing usually happens in a gradual time frame; it can neither be hurried nor forced – and there is not a ‘normal’ timetable for the process of grief.
Dealing with the process of grief
While grieving the loss of a loved one is an inevitable process in life, there are numerous ways to help someone cope with the pain, and come to terms with the grief that they are feeling. Here are some steps you can go through to help you deal with the process of grief:
- Acknowledging your pain
- Accepting that grief can potentially trigger a number of unexpected and different emotions
- Understanding that the process of grief will be unique to you
- Seeking out face-to-face support from the people who truly care about you
- Supporting yourself emotionally by properly taking care of your physical wellbeing
- Recognising the difference between depression and grief
Stages of grief
There are five stages to grief that are notable for being the typical pattern followed after the loss of a loved one. They are:
Denial: “This cannot be happening to me.”
Anger: “Why is this happening to me? Who is there to blame for this?”
Bargaining: “Make this not be a reality, and in return I’ll _”
Depression: “I am too sad to do anything.”
Acceptable: “I am at peace with what has happened.”
If any of these emotions sound familiar to you, it might help you to know that this reaction is completely natural and that you are going to heal with time. However, not everyone who goes through the process of grieving experiences all of these stages, and that’s not a problem either. Remember that you don’t have to go through every stage in order to properly heal from your wounds. In fact, certain people can resolve their grief without ever going through any of these stages. If you do go through these stages of grief, there’s a good chance you won’t experience them in a nice, neat sequential order too.
At SC & BS Cocks, we deeply understand that arranging a funeral can seem like a momentous task during such a difficult time, and actually planning can be another thing entirely. That is why we’re here to help every step of the way. Throughout the process, we’ll talk you through the different options available and offer advice on the choices that will best suit your requirements. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to get in touch or find us at our website., where you can find a wealth of information on all the funeral services we offer and what works best for you.