4 Ways To Cope With The Unexpected Loss Of A Loved One

The sudden or unexpected death of someone you love can be difficult, and positive coping mechanisms can be knocked out. Every grief and bereavement process is unique to each person, in which emotional responses differ, affecting both physical and psychological well-being.

In this post, you’ll learn some effective ways on how you can cope with an unexpected loss of a loved one, allowing you to understand the bereavement process, accept the reality and pain of death, and eventually move forward with your life. 

1. Be Open and Communicate 

Talking about your thoughts and feelings with someone you trust can ease the burden of losing someone you love. Some people who are grieving prefer to be alone, locking themselves in their rooms and crying all day. While this behavior is normal, talking to someone, like a trusted friend, close relative, a psychologist, or a lawyer can help you express your thoughts and emotions, giving you a sigh of relief.

For instance, if you believe that your loved one suffered from wrongful death, you can always talk to an attorney to know the next steps. Be open and communicate everything you want to shed clarification on, so you can think more positive ways of coping with such a tragic situation. Knowing that someone is willing to listen and comfort you makes a huge difference in attaining a better coping process.

2. Don’t Pressure Yourself Too Much 

Before anything else, you should prioritize your physical and psychological health. Take time to absorb everything, and don’t pressure yourself to do things. Rushing things may lead to a more confused state, guilt, frustration, and regretful decisions. 

Here are some helpful coping tips to avoid too much pressure after the death of a loved one:

• Delegate tasks, such as managing your business while you’re busy looking after your loved one’s funeral services. You can designate supervisory tasks to a trusted employee or hire someone to do other tasks you can’t temporarily attend to.
• Don’t make impulsive decisions by researching your options, from choosing the best color of a casket for your departed loved one or deciding whether you want the body to undergo autopsy for foolproof medical evidence of wrongful death. 

3. Think About Your Children

Losing a spouse or someone you love can feel like the end of the world for you too. However, while you deal with your own grief, it’s also essential to think about how your children are coping. Explaining death to a child should be in an age-appropriate way. Understanding death can be overwhelming and confusing for children, so telling them that showing their emotions is okay, and they can also cry and mourn with you. 

4. Know the Stages of Grief

It’s a real challenge to go back to your normal routine after the funeral service. It’s one of the hardest times because of missing your lost loved one. However, you need to cope by knowing and understanding the grieving process or the stages of grief and how each stage should be dealt with healing.  

Here are the stages of grief according to a Swiss-American psychiatrist, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross:

• Denial: The state of shock and denial make survival possible, pacing your feelings of grief and starting the healing process. 
• Anger: Once the feelings you indirectly deny begin to surface, you’ll feel anger. People express their anger in different ways, like crying, shouting, or throwing things. Feeling angry is normal, which becomes your anchor or bridge in an open sea. It’s a way of showing your love’s intensity that every grieving person has the right to feel.
• Bargaining: At this stage, a person tries to bargain anything just to turn back time and get to live with the person again. It’s the time when you feel guilty and utter bargaining words like ‘if only’ or ‘Please God,” and ask too many questions.
• Depression: Once you start to realize the reality of death, you stop bargaining and enter depression, a seemingly hopeless situation. It’s time you eventually clear your head and understand that your loved one won’t be with you forever. At this point, talking to someone is very important to avoid getting stuck and losing your mind.
• Acceptance: This stage doesn’t mean that you should be okay or all right, but rather learning how to live with your present your situation. You can always keep the memories of your loved one alive while accepting things and moving on.

Conclusion 

There are many ways you can cope with a sudden loss of a loved one and you can start by talking to someone. Also, prioritizing your health and your children will help you gather strength and heal in time by understanding the normal bereavement process.