How Do You Heal From A Close One’s Death?

A few things that have helped me.

Photo by Eyasu Etsub on Unsplash

Link for non-members

I am no therapist.

But I am a self-healer.

And this is what I have experienced.

There’s a particular kind of pain that comes with losing someone you love deeply.

It’s not just the absence that hurts.

It’s the questions that follow.

The relentless “what ifs” and “if onlys” that play on repeat in your mind.

• What if I had cared more?
• If only I had noticed that symptom sooner.
• I should have been there more.

I know these thoughts intimately because they haunted me for years after my grandmother passed away.

And I’ve watched my best friend struggle with the same burden since losing her grandmother .

The Guilt That Comes With Grief

After a few months of my grandmother’s death, I was consumed by a sense that I had failed her.

I convinced myself that had I been more attentive, more present, more something, the outcome might have been different.