All Blog Postings by Mary
A Widows Grief Process
By Mary Francis · Originally published: March 18, 2012
Archive notice: This is a historical post from Mary’s years of blogging. Some older posts may mention products, courses or shop items that are no longer available, as Mary now focuses her time and energy on supporting widows inside her private Facebook community. The guidance and stories remain here as a free resource for widows.
For current ways to connect with Mary’s work, you can:
Take a close look at the emotions listed and understand that you may feel some or all of them. These are all normal and healthy symptoms of the grief process and should be acknowledged.
- Sadness – You may feel such a deep sadness that you never want to laugh again.
- Confusion – You feel like you are losing your mind but confusion, memory loss and the inability to concentrate are caused by stress and are usually temporary.
- Anger – It’s common to be angry with others and even with the person who has died. It may be because the death was also the end of your dreams and future as you knew it.
- Relief – If there was a long illness, you are probably mentally and physically worn out. You are relieved it is finally over and they are no longer suffering. This is quite normal and there is nothing to feel guilty about.
- Loneliness – You may have the sudden “empty nest” experience and find evenings and weekends especially difficult.
- The death of a child is an impossible grief because parents expect to outlive their children. Children are supposed to live and keep the adventure of life alive for their parents. There is no real solution to the pain of a lost child because parents will always have that pain of loss. Parents need to be aware of the stages of grief and try to prepare themselves for the emotional journey that they have ahead of them.
