There is a strong relationship between illness and the loss of a loved one.
Can you enjoy your own quiet time without being lonely or do you consistently need noise or entertainment? Are you able to enjoy simple things like the sound of rain or a child’s laughter? By looking for ways to avoid loneliness, you may become a “busyaholic”, never stopping. That way your grief can’t catch up to you but you are just running away. It is impossible to find your path until you are able to look honestly at who you are today. Too often we view our lives as being helpless. Although we don’t have control over the death of our loved ones, we do have control over our responses and our lives. You have to think, talk, write and cry about your loss so that you can avoid sickness when grieving. Keep a journal because writing gives you an awareness on a conscious level of all the changes taking place in your life. At the end of six months go back and look through it.All Blog Postings by Mary
Sickness when Grieving
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:
- Read her book on Amazon .
- Request to join her private Facebook group for widows .
Sickness when grieving - our health is affected in every way when we lose our loved ones. At first the grief affects us mentally as it drains our joy and changes our relationships.
It isn’t long before our physical health – stress, sleep, exercise and diet are also showing the strain of our grief. Our spiritually journey may be put to the test as we ask,” Why does God not eliminate mindless suffering?”
There are several aspects to your physical well-being: stress control, sleep, exercise and diet being the top four.
Stress control – As you think ahead to any activity or celebration, plan the timing so you are in control of when you want to leave and plan ahead on how you will handle memories that will pull at your heart.
It is a balancing act to get out and socialize and yet on the other hand you need time to just rest and grieve. The main thing is that in time you do get out and that you plan ahead.
Sometimes, it’s best to take an understanding friend, especially if it’s a social with mostly couples.
Try to have reasonable expectations because the fact is it will never be the same again. Plan and be realistic about what you can handle, both physically and emotionally. Slowly, you will be able to find joy in these outings and you will find your path.
Watch out for depression – it can sneak up on you and before you know it you have crossed over from a healthy grief to an unhealthy depression.
Exercise - What else will help you make split-second decisions, has stress reduction benefits and make you feel like part of a community?
The most enjoyable exercise is when you are doing something with a friend and it is fun.
Diet – How you cook for one and plan your meals will reflect in how you feel and look. Often we have no interest in food and may get dangerously thin. Sometimes, you may not like to cook for just yourself and so you eat a lot of junk and takeout food. This has the negative effect of draining your energy plus you will have an unwanted weight gain.