Home  Articles General Bereavement Managing Stress While Grieving
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Managing Stress While Grieving |
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Written by TCF (Florence Miller)
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Saturday, 31 December 2005 |
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Managing Stress While Grieving
(The following suggestions come from Florence Miller, Health-Aid Specialist and a bereaved parent from the Columbia, SC chapter of The Compassionate Friends. Miller’s article appeared in our April 1997 Piedmont Chapter monthly newsletter.)
Necessities for stress management:
Balanced nutrition
Maintenance of fluid intake
Avoidance of caffeine, alcohol and sugar in excess
Exercise
Adequate rest
Contact with a personal social network for support
Early on:
Make no final decisions now about anything.
Ask help in guidance through daily patterns such as child care, meal preparation, phone calls, etc.
Talk about your child and what has happened to you whenever you can.
Force yourself to eat properly. Take a vitamin (stress) supplement.
Exercise. Walking is the best and easiest.
Sleep more when you want to. If you can’t sleep, tire yourself out with moderate, reasonable exercise. At least rest.
Later on:
Simplify your life for the time being. Do only what must be done.
Eat properly.
Exercise fairly vigorously and often.
Plan times to talk about your child and your experience. Be intentional about this.
Forgive yourself over and over — for the past, for your feelings, for anything, real or imagined.
Be honest; let people know how you are. Friends will not know what to say or do. Tell them what you need. They will appreciate the guidance.
Still later:
Establish new rituals in your family around the holidays and special occasions, even around daily patterns.
Find a project, a cause, a charity, a task to which you can devote your energy in memory of your child.
Love yourself.
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