LIVING WITH LOSS - 11th JANUARY 2024

What’s your grief?  Today I reflect on mine.

I have now lived half my life without my Mum Sue.  26 years of navigating grief, loss, life and silent remembrance.  Her birthday would have been today and I am thinking about her.

I wanted to blog about this to let people know that you will never forget, you’ll never stop counting the time without them and you always wonder how you are managing to continue to live without them.  Knowing all that they have missed, all the changes that have happened and all the new people they never met.

Without losing Mum, without the pain of grief, I would never have trained as a bereavement volunteer and subsequently training as a counsellor to help other people with their grief.

Perhaps the point of this personal blog is to say that you will survive, you will get through the very dark days and you will have happy days.  You may even go on a journey in your life that you never thought would exist after your loss.

BUT you might not be able to traverse your grief alone.  You may be supporting other people, you may have complex grief, deep distress, ambiguous loss or anticipatory loss.

LET ME HELP YOU.  Consider coming to talk with me.  I’ll walk the path with you.  All your emotions and memories are welcome.  We’ll talk about the person you’ve lost and the meaning around that.

As humans we are very good at blocking our emotions and unfortunately your grief will come back to you in the future and if it is unresolved it can come back at really difficult times.

We’ll talk about them, share photos, reminisce, explore how you are feeling and how you will go forward.  We’ll plan how you will navigate their birthdays and significant anniversaries.  You are not alone.

I wish I had found therapeutic support in 1998.