#GriefBlog

[cinderpresss]

Grief Recovery Book: Handbook and Workbook | Tools and Techniques for Healing the Heart 

Grief Recovery Handbook and Workbook: Tools and Techniques for Healing the Heart is a compassionate and practical guide for anyone navigating the complex journey of grief. This simplified yet powerful resource offers clear insights, thoughtful exercises, and meaningful support to help you heal.

In this book, you'll find:

An Understanding of Grief: Explore what grief truly is, the different types of grief, and common myths that often complicate the healing process.

The Stages of Grief: Learn how to move through the stages of grief at your own pace and find your unique path to recovery.

Coping Strategies: Gain practical tools for managing overwhelming emotions and practicing self-care during difficult times.

Expressive Outlets: Discover the healing power of sharing your story, creative activities like art and writing, and guided journaling prompts.

Building Support: Learn how to ask for help, find support from friends, family, or professionals, and build a strong network for ongoing healing.

Techniques for Healing: Explore mindfulness practices, breathing exercises, and other techniques to support your emotional well-being and calm your mind.

Personal Rituals and Legacy: Create personal rituals to honor your loved one and help you find peace in their memory.

Moving Forward: Develop strategies for embracing a new normal, setting achievable goals, and finding meaning after loss.

With a blend of thoughtful guidance and hands-on exercises, Grief Recovery Handbook and Workbook provides a safe space for reflection, growth, and emotional healing. Each chapter offers gentle support and encouragement to help you process your grief, regain your sense of self, and move forward with hope and resilience.

This book is designed to meet you where you are, offering practical steps and heartfelt understanding as you heal. Buy your copy today!

[creekfiend]

my dad's ghost will be twelve years old tomorrow. you know what that means!!! next year: GHOST BAR MITZVAH

[raindropgirly]

Not posting any photos from today, as I feel it’s disrespectful/not my place, but I’m glad that Liam has finally been able to be laid to rest.

It’s disgusting that his family was made to wait so long to bury him.

I’m crying about the situation all over again. Seeing Niall, Louis, Zayn and Harry without him hit me like a freight train.

Seeing the “Daddy” flowers that Cheryl Cole got for the service as a tribute from Bear made me sob out loud.

[earnedmagic]

grief forest, original comic | prints available

i drew this several years ago as part of a larger project, but rediscovered it recently and decided to share.

[90stvqueen]

nobody wants to hear about how sad you are all the time about the death of someone you really loved, which sucks because when someone you really love dies, it's all you can really talk about. i miss my friends but i don't reach out to anyone because i don't have anything to say that isn't about love and loss and hospitals and curly hair and remembering and honor walks and cosmically bad luck and community and unspeakable sorrow. and nobody wants to hear about that, because what do you even say? i don't know what i would say to me.

[imalayla]

Pity party.

I wish I was in a normal place where I could say my dogs are helping me heal from Layla dying but they aren't. Nothing is. They are nice dogs that I care about, but they're just there. They help fill the hole but it isn't healing me.

Grief has twisted me into an ugly, numb shell of who I used to be. It's broken me in ways I never expected. And now I can't even be open about it with other real human beings because of the shame I feel over it. It's embarrassing talking about it, it's embarrassing admitting how much pain I am in constantly, and how much I do to numb that pain.

She was just a damn dog! Why was she any different than any of the other dogs I've lived with. Why can't I love them like I loved her. Why do heart dogs even exist if the only thing they do is ruin you when they're gone. Why can't my current dogs be enough for me.

I spent her birthday crying, numbing myself out, watching movies, and sleeping. I'm not home so I couldn't visit any of our hiking haunts. I didn't know how to celebrate it. I put to much pressure on myself to make it meaningful then nothing actually happened. I didn't even give my dogs a special meal like I wanted to. I wanna go home and get lost in the woods and find her.

The original plan was to make a memorial stepping stone, but I forgot all my supplies at home. Nothing else really felt right.

At least lure coursing starts up in a few weeks so I can use that to fill the hole again.

[kiichu]

i can't really believe it, but it's been three years since i last saw jake

three years since i kissed his forehead and whispered that i loved him over and over, even if his old deaf dog ears couldn't hear me. since i left him on that cold table as the vet hurried me out of the room. since i snapped the chain of my necklace i had been wearing every day as a lucky charm.

we have a new dog in the house - roo - but she'll never replace you, jake. i have room in my heart for the two of you, plus scout! never ever worry, i will never forget you. ever.

i hope you are somewhere out there. maybe amongst the stars.

i love and miss you so much, my jakey snakey pancakey ♥ 

[dallonwrites]

at first i was writing a lot of grief stuff to process my own which is still the case but at this point it's mostly the grief has been here for so long and is not going away so and i'm tired so i might as well have fun with it

[lifeaccordingtosophia]

Caution: This blog entry discusses miscarriages at length. Readers discretion advised if this may be a sensitive topic for you.

“There is a unique pain that comes from preparing a place in your heart for a child that never comes”. – David Platt

This feels like a nightmare that I can’t wake up from. And I do not mean this metaphorically. My body has literally attempted to wake up multiple times from what appears to be a dreadful dream that I have found myself waking up hyper ventilating the moment my eyes have been able to find rest. As if my mind is saying, “You see, you are sleeping! Now wake up Sophie, wake up and this will all go away!”. These episodes of panic have happened at least ten times within the past two days. And in each time that I wake up gasping for air, I quickly realize that my mind is terribly wrong, this in fact is my new reality. With each time my mind grasps this gut-wrenching truth, my heart shatters each time to millions of pieces that seem impossible to put back together.

On Thursday, April 16th, 2020 at my 8:30 a.m. ultrasound appointment, I found out that my sweet baby’s heart was no longer beating. There I laid on the cold hard bed with nobody but the ultrasound technician because this dreadful corona virus has ruined everything and inhibited me from bringing my husband to the appointment. The technician did not say one word for what felt to be an eternity until this sentence burned through her lips, “I am sorry, but your baby no longer has a heartbeat”. With those words, I felt my heart shatter and my eyes begin to flood with tears. I did not care if this woman was a stranger to me, I began to sob so heavily that my chest began to hurt. She asked me if I wanted to see my lifeless baby on the screen. Without hesitation I said yes but quickly realized that my sadness overtook my vision and that it was impossible to focus on the screen. I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream so loudly that the whole earth would begin to shake. As the grief overtook my entire self, I realized that it takes two to make a child and began to think about how my husband would respond to this. I knew that he was eagerly waiting for me outside in the parking lot ready to see my text message with a video of the sonogram letting him know that “everything is okay”. I began sobbing “my husband, my husband, what do I tell my husband”. The sonogram technician asked me if I wanted to have him come to the room, as if that should even be a question. I said yes and she told me that she would speak to the front desk to allow him to walk back. I mustered up the little bit of strength that I had and sent him a text that said, “come up”. Within moments my sweet husband arrived into the dark room where I collapsed in his arms. We cried together and we broke together.

A few minutes later we were moved to another room so I could see my doctor. As if finding out my child was gone wasn’t bad enough. We now had to discuss the options I had since my child was still inside of me. Unfortunately, my options turned into one choice since this corona virus pandemic has inhibited physicians from completing “non-emergency” surgeries which prohibited me to choose to undergo a D&C which would have been less traumatic. Instead, my choice was to ingest a medication that assists with “evacuating the uterus”. My doctor told me that she was going to prescribe me pain medication as well and warned me not to attempt to take the medication without the pain medication. I thought to myself for a brief moment that I wish I would have had the choice to undergo pain 100x times greater if that would mean my baby would still be alive. If that meant I could have held my baby, heard my baby laugh, heard my baby cry, and as weird as this might sound, been able to smell my baby.  What I would have given to be able to do any of those things.

Fast forward a couple of hours, I am now home with my husband, sister, mother, and sister in law. I am blessed to have a close-knit family. My sister, who is not only a nurse but also a mother who lost her son only a few short months ago knows more than anyone what I went through on that day. We both never imagined that we’d both be members of the club nobody wants to join. She watched over me and cared for me through those hours and days of both physical and emotional pain as my child’s home became empty once again.

So here I am, a few days have passed, and I now sit here childless. No baby to talk to, no baby to one day hold, no baby to dream about. I wonder how my child would have been. If they may have had my golden-brown curls or my husband’s tan skin. Maybe they might have been bossy like me or introverted like Jim. It pains me to think of the “what ifs” because I know that my child is gone. And even if Jim and I would be willing to give away all our belongings, forfeit our degrees and careers, endure physical pain for however long necessary, our baby would not return to us.

Although I would not wish what Jim and I are going through on my worst enemy, I remain hopeful. I cling to the hope that God is still with me and that He has not abandoned me. I know that He is hurting right beside me and walking through this season alongside me. During moments that I wish to not continue, I know that God lifts me up and carries me through those tough hours. I am also comforted in knowing that my child will never feel pain or suffering. They will only know pure joy as they live in heaven with our One true God. I wait for the day that we will be able to meet, the day that I can finally embrace my child.  My sweet Ari. But until that day comes, I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, my whole mind, my whole body, and my entire soul.

 “Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

– Matthew 19:13-14

“Why did I not die at birth,     come out from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me?     Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? For then I would have lain down and been quiet;     I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, with kings and counselors of the earth     who rebuilt ruins for themselves, or with princes who had gold,     who filled their houses with silver.

- Job 3:11-19

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be”.

- Psalms 139:16

“I shall go to him, be he will not return to me.”

- 2 Samuel 12:23b

[creekfiend]

oh right

[raindropgirly]

I just wish I had directioner friends that I could share this grief with. I know Liam Payne was just one of five guys in a band, but that band had an IMMENSE impact on me. I’ve always been a Niall girl, but part of my girlhood was stolen from me last night with Payno’s death.

[earnedmagic]

my favorite youtube yoga channel is yoga with adriene, famous for her blue heeler benji who frequently snoozes next to the mat in her videos. lucy would often flop across the top of my mat during my practice, mirroring benji. she'd sniff my face during inverted postures. when i unrolled the mat she would trot over, recognizing the sound. my yoga buddy. now, when i practice, benji is still there, but lucy isn't.

[90stvqueen]

i just want to scream HE WAS THREE!!!!!! HE WAS THREE!!!! but these are just the facts of life. he was three and now he's dead. and it's already been almost a month. and it still feels impossible

[kassiopiaportia]

One Year.

This time last year, I was going to sleep without thinking it would be our last night with her.  This time last year, I got home late from work (as always) and found her on the studio chair purring and rolling about like an idiot as per the usual. I even posted about it on facebook. She was feeling so good. She seemed to be feeling so good. 

We had hope. We had cautious optimism. She had meds and a prognosis that made us feel safe, but she would soon have another fall. 

Throughout her life, Kassie was given the best medical attention that a cat could ever ask for. She only went to the best doctors, the best specialists, the best sonographer. I trusted that she would have more time. We found out really quickly how wrong we all were. How little time we had left, and how no one could have predicted it. Except for maybe her, but we know she would never tell us. 

I cannot properly put into words how different of a person I am now that she’s gone, but I know I’ll never be the same Laura I was before I knew her, and before I lost her. I’ll never be as open, as loving, as happy, as fulfilled of a person as I once was. I’ll never be as much of myself as I was before. I, without question, will never be whole again. 

My home - will never be the same. The dynamic here is different. Archimedes and I feel the same way. He’s not the same either, and I know he never will be. 

This year, I am sitting alone on my sofa, wishing she were here to playfully attack me as I walk into the kitchen. I know if she were here, she’d still be secretly sleeping next to me, hoping I didn’t notice. She’d be letting Archie knead his paws into her fluffy belly. She’d be yelling for food. She’d be playing with an almond milk jug top. She’d love Juno.  Reflecting on how she died makes me realize how much of the actual death we, as pet parents, truly remember and hang onto. That’s not to say that her life isn’t the focus of who she was, but her death being so sudden and unexpected still breaks my heart. It still breaks my soul. 

Tonight I go to bed with swollen, red, eyes; with her blanket clutched to my chest, with my heart broken all over again. Tomorrow I will wake up, to a world without her in it and I know that I will feel the bleakness of existence. Tomorrow will be the day I lost her. If I think getting through this day will be difficult, then I reckon waking up on the 26th, the year’s passing of the first day waking up without her, will likely be unbearable.

To my Kassie:  One year without you has been torture. I want you to know that I move through my life with every passing day working to make your death something to be learned from, and to make your life something to be utterly celebrated. Every person that I make smile or comforted is to make your memory more beautiful.

I hope that wherever you are, you have peace. I hope you have all the pink fleece blankets you can set your heart on. I hope you have a purple comb, and a feather duster toy. I hope you have all the wet food you could ever want without getting diabetes. I hope you have a snug window seat where you can cast your globe-eyes out upon the world. I hope you truly have no pain, no heartache, no question about how much love you made everyone feel. I hope you feel all the love everyone had and still has for you.

Selfishly, I hope you are waiting for us at that rainbow bridge. 

[kiichu]

it’s been one whole year since jake left. i miss him. i love him. i’ll never stop. 

i hope he’s having zoomies in the stars. 

[yagirlsars]

“I crave conversations that will never take place.”

the grief that ruins me