Coping with Grief: 7 Ways to Handle Mourning Well

There are a few things that are truly universal. One of those universal realities is loss and the grief that accompanies it. Loss can take various forms, and that includes the death of a loved one, when a significant relationship ends in a breakup or divorce, when you encounter a major life change like job loss, or when you are uprooted from your home or community after a traumatic event like a natural disaster.

Grief Defined

When we experience loss, the healthy response to that is to grieve. Grieving is the natural process through which we come to terms with the loss and begin to figure out how to do life anew. Even though grief is a natural process, it can affect you in profound ways, and there are both healthy and unhealthy ways to grieve.

There are unhealthy ways to grieve, but it is crucial to know how to cope with grief and loss in healthy ways, so that you do not wind up undermining your own mental and physical well-being.

How Grief Impacts You

When a person is grieving, the manifestations and effects can vary. Part of how grief affects an individual or family will depend on the nature of the loss, what the relationship was like, the resources that are available to process the loss, and grief outcomes. Often, when an individual, family, or loved ones encounter grief and loss, it triggers emotions such as anger, sadness, guilt, relief, and confusion.

Grief does not only affect people emotionally, but grief can also lead to changes in your appetite, physical aches and pain, fatigue, and insomnia. Mentally, grief also has an impact. It may leave you feeling anxious, depressed, and hopeless. When you are going through the grieving process, it may cause you to become isolated and withdrawn from family or other loved ones.

The grief process does not have a set time to get through it, nor does it affect people in the same way. For some, grief may be intense, and they can feel buffeted about by a swirl of powerful emotions. Grief may be so intense and overwhelming that it begins to interfere with daily activities. It’s important to seek help so that you can cope with your grief.

For Christians, grief is often related to as a complex experience that intertwines the loss with faith and hope in eternal life. Hope for the Christian resides in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and one’s attachment to Jesus by faith. The resurrection hope provides comfort, even as it reminds believers that death is natural, and an enemy that God will remove from His creation once and for all.

Christians across the world have different rituals for dealing with grief and loss, and that includes funerals with aspects such as prayer and hymns, as well as readings from Scripture to remind believers of resurrection hope. These rituals allow people to process their grief with hope that things will not stay this way, and that death will not have the last word in God’s good world. (1 Corinthians 15; Revelation 21:1-4).

Some Healthy Ways of Coping with Grief

As with most things, when you experience hardship, there are healthy ways of facing it that will promote your well-being. On the other hand, due to faulty thinking, bad habits, or being misinformed, you can also take a path of handling grief that is damaging to you and the people around you.

It is important to learn and implement the following healthy ways of coping with grief.

Acknowledge what you are feeling Instead of denying how the loss has affected you, allow yourself to feel your emotions without passing judgment on them or yourself. When you try to suppress your feelings, it tends to prolong the grieving process. Grief is a natural response to loss and acceptance can help you to process your emotions in a healthier way.

Maintain a routine Grief can be disruptive and confusing. Having a daily routine can help you by providing a sense of normalcy and control during a period of massive upheaval in your life. That daily routine could include scheduling times for work, exercise, or pursuing hobbies. Having a routine helps you by creating structure and nurturing a sense of purpose.

Utilize rituals available to you There are rituals such as a funeral or memorial service, planting a tree or garden in your loved one’s honor, scrapbooking precious memories, or going on a hike on their favorite trail to honor their memory, and you can use these to provide you with a sense of closure and an opportunity to say goodbye to them.

Get creative Sometimes, the powerful emotions welling up inside you need expression, and that expression isn’t always in words. Whether you lean into visual art, music, writing, or other forms of creative expression, these can be powerful tools that you can use to help you process and express any emotions you’ve felt that are related to your grief.

Take care of yourself When you go through loss take care of yourself. Eat a healthy and balanced diet, exercise regularly, and try to get good sleep every night. Doing these things will help you manage your stress better, improve your mood, and give you a break from emotional turmoil.

Taking care of yourself may also include staying clear of alcohol or drugs as a way to cope, not overworking yourself, as well as not rushing to fill the void by stepping into another relationship too quickly.

Volunteer Grief sometimes needs to be channeled into positive or constructive effort, and one way to do that is to volunteer and serve others.

Seek support and professional help You do not have to journey through grief alone. You can connect with your friends, family, or a support group that can come alongside you to provide comfort and understanding. You are not alone in experiencing grief, even though your journey may be unique.

In addition to seeking support, professional help may be a necessary next step. If your grief becomes overwhelming or persistent, you can consult with a Grief Therapist or Counselor with training to help you understand your grief. Your Counselor can partner with you to provide you with additional support and help you develop effective coping strategies.

People deal with grief in different ways. Some find comfort in writing letters to their loved one, perhaps expressing feelings that may be hard to articulate verbally. Others may choose to cope by taking on new hobbies that help them process things as well as have a sense of purpose.

The Next Steps to Coping with Grief

Remembering and feeling the pain of loss can be overwhelming. However, the only way out is through. By acknowledging and working through your grief, you can learn to live with grief in a healthy way, deal with the loss with newfound strength and insight, and face the future with resilient hope. You can reach out and talk to a Christian Counselor or Therapist to help you walk through your grief process.

You can share your story with your Counselor by talking through your emotions and discussing your loss. Sometimes, therapy is the first time someone has spoken about their loved one since the loss. Your counselor or therapist will help you by creating a safe space so that you feel comfortable enough to talk openly about your grief. Talk therapy can help you to identify any unhelpful thoughts or actions that are undermining your ability to cope well with grief.

Apart from developing helpful strategies to cope better with grief, your Counselor can also connect you with others who can support you on your journey. This includes others who are also grieving but are perhaps in a different place than you. You don’t have to walk alone or deal with grief on your own. Reach out to our office today to meet with a Christian grief counselor near you.