The Grief Process

    Experiences of our lives can be wonderful and warm occasions. Given the circumstances that take random turns, we could never know when the dark and cold realities show themselves. When the loss of an object, place, and event occurs, it can cause a misinterpreted feeling called Grief. It comes up when your reality has experienced a loss and this feeling is normal. 

    Crawling feelings of sadness, despair, loneliness and even anxiety are just a few feelings that overwhelm our very existence. The feelings also don't show as it does for everybody. One situation that I can fully relate to is the Death of a Loved One. My grandmother was 1 of 3 people, in my pre-adult days, I have personally lost to Death. I was 19 and I had no idea what grief even was, but I was hellbent on moving forward with my life as an adult-with PTSD and all. That was far from the case. 

    The stages of grief, as stated by the Mayo Clinic, are classified as:

-Shock/Denial

-Pain/Guilt

-Anger/Bargaining

-Depression, Loneliness, and Reflection

-Upward Turn in Life

-Reconstruction

-Acceptance/Hope

    These "stages" were developed to simply track your own feelings to keep up with where your feelings shift to. The perception you have around that "thing" you lost truly decides how intense it will be when it distresses you. Was it an external symbol or was it a thought or experience you enjoyed? Grief has a way of grasping at anything connected to the impending loss. Once that feeling surfaces, being struck by it emotionally is our first indication that grief has risen. 

    The real issue is how it affects the other components of our entire being. The brain function that regulates the emotions on top of the physical, and seemingly Spiritual tones of our existence. What evolves everything into this bereavement is how the world perceives your behaviors while moving through Life, as normal. 

    The results that arise from feeling Grief to an extensive level have been linked to a psycho-social dysfunction that truly shows as a person exposes their behaviors. I have learned also that my being an Army Veteran has a level of grief that doesn't even align with our common thoughts towards grief. When we reflect on the process of Grief that living Veterans go through, it has not been so widely expressed because all of the studies are geared towards the families. 

    These types of pathologies can hinder a Life as we all know it to be, but there are ways to soften the trauma. With the world's digital advantages, we can seek multiple levels of support for sufferers of grief. Most forms of Holistic Therapy can suppress or even move you beyond the grief to work towards more quality and functionality out of Life. Support groups that help with peer-to-peer assistance are throughout your Local Google search box. If you have been through the funeral ceremony of your loved one, then sometimes you might find a compassionate Funeral service that continues the support ever after the funeral is over. 

    It truly takes a level of strength that you, more than likely, didn't know you had. Just know you are far from being alone and sometimes it takes relating to another person's pain to continue with the Life you have at the moment.