Sadness is a feeling that reminds us to give honor to important people or things we’ve lost. Sadness is a good thing! The only thing worse than losing something important is forgetting to remember how important it was. Sadness helps those important things continue on with us even though what we lost is no longer here. Grieving is the process of working out our sadness. We have to learn how to adapt to a new reality, one in which that which was or should have been will never be again. We lose not only our present, but the future we had envisioned.
There are many types of loss. Sometimes, the thing we lost was something we may have never actually had, such as a loving parent or a pregnancy. These losses are just as important to honor as the loss of things we have had.
When sadness overwhelms us, it can hold us down and keep us from being able to move forward. There is no right way to grieve. In fact, there are many paths and markers in the grief process. Every loss needs to be honored and each person grieves in their own way. Walking with someone who is grieving has much to do with not only learning about the person or thing that was lost, but also learning how to care and be with the one who is grieving.
Grief is a journey. The goal of grief therapy is not to get rid of sadness but to help it shift from ever-present to gentle reminders and to reduce its intensity from all-encompassing to an ache we can manage. We know how to walk alongside grief, to help honor both the good and the bad in every loss, and help clients learn how to live in the reality of loss.
Contact us today to allow us to help you along your path of grief.