COPING WITH SADNESS AND LOSS
By Megan Praat
I am no life coach, but I can honestly say from my own life experience of losing my mom to
cancer when I was 10, grieving from the loss of a loved one, family member, friend or pet is
rough. It eventually happens to everyone, and each time, and for each person, it’s different.
Whether the cause of loss is a breakup, moving away, or death--the experience can be life
changing.
Through my eyes, there are two ways to handle grief. The first is to acknowledge the heartache, pain and negative feelings one feels in these sensitive times; remain open to explore any
positives that may come out of the loss--such as, looking for the silver lining around the storm
cloud. The second way is to let the grief push you down and swallow you up. Being sad, angry
and/or depressed is a part of the normal grieving process with regard to loss. It can be a great
help to know that these feelings are not who you actually are, just temporary emotions that will
eventually sort themselves out and fade away. If you dwell and stay in the dark emotion for too
long, it begins to eat at your heart, only making the wound harder to heal in the long run.
“Time heals all wounds”, they say, and I should know. As the clock ticks and the world turns,
life for the most part will go on, whether or not one heals and moves forward or chooses to stay
stuck in the sadness. Some can feel guilty about going on when someone is missing from their
life. But one must ask oneself, “what would the other person's heart really want for them?”. If
the heart could speak, the answer will always be something like “I would want you to go on and
live your life to the fullest- be happy.” When the grief returns from time to time, let the words of
your heart be the wind beneath your wings to help you to carry on.