If you were given the choice between diving into the darkest depths of the ocean, fully equipped with all of the gear needed to handle whatever you might encounter, OR being attached to an 80-pound anchor while you flailed frantically to keep your head above water, which would you choose?
Well, when it’s put that way, I’d have to choose diving into the depths. Grief is a lot like plunging into the depths of a dark unknown ocean. When we plunge into grief, we fear we will never resurface. So we choose instead to frantically tread water while lugging an 80-pound anchor that slowly drags us to the very place we were trying to avoid. How ridiculous is that?
Last year, I had a very important friendship end. I chose to dive right into the darkness of my grief and bawl my eyes out! I was pathetic. I cried in front of everyone I encountered and even cried during a presentation I gave about, of all things, sharing and being open about one’s grief. I was literally a sobbing mess for eight days.
As I look back, I realize it took a lot of courage to allow myself to express how I was feeling. I was honest and shared my sadness with an open heart. Then a funny thing happened. The crying stopped and I felt light and free.
If I had chosen to pretend that I was fine or tried to repress my grief, kicking wildly with that anchor chained to my legs in an attempt to keep my head above water, I would have been dragged down into the darkness anyway. My heart and soul would have been battered and exhausted. I am certain that I would still be sad had I tried to fight my grief.
But I chose to dive into the depths, trusting that I had the gear I needed to face what had to be faced. Including taking responsibility for my part in creating the circumstances that ended the friendship and understanding that I wasn’t a victim. As a result, I became stronger and light enough to resurface quickly. It was a very empowering experience.
I am using a minor loss in order to give you a simple illustration. I know that major losses are complex and more difficult to face, but the same principle applies.
In July of 2004, my brother died, five months later, my infant daughter died as well. It was as if my soul knew that the two losses combined were more than I could handle, so I put fully grieving the loss of my brother on hold. It took a great deal of energy just to get through the day, and I felt heavy and tired all the time. The blocked sadness also blocked my ability to experience love and joy to the fullest.
On the third year anniversary of my brother’s death, it hit me: my brother was gone. That is when I began to really process my grief. I dove in by writing, reading and sharing about my loss. It’s been six years and I have just begun to resurface. I am sure people thought, “Honestly, it’s been years, shouldn’t she be over it by now?”
I can’t help but wonder if I hadn’t put my sadness about my brother on hold and given myself the time to grieve, would I have been able to resurface sooner? My guess is yes.
My energy started returning just this week! I am starting to feel more love and joy in my everyday life more than ever before. Having processed my grief doesn’t mean I won’t continue to miss my brother, my baby and even my friend, but as long as I allow myself to feel my sadness and let it come up and out, I will continue to be empowered.
Do not be afraid to dive into your grief. Get the tools and support you need to work through your sadness and you will avoid a lifetime spent in darkness fighting to get to the light. If you need support or would like to learn more about the tools needed to effectively process your grief, please contact me by email or phone. I would be honored to be your spiritual grief companion. You, too, deserve to live a life filled with energy, love and joy.
Gabrielle Michel 2010
Dear Gabrielle
My fiance died of cancer a little over 2 years ago, and since he’s passed away, I’ve been in 3 relationships – 1 very short term, and the other two were 6 months long each, with only a 6 week separation between each of them. I recently broke up with the 3rd partner, and instead of feeling very sad over our break-up (which is still disappointing to me) I find myself being more upset about my fiance again. It is as if the grief is right back there where it was, fresh like the day he died. I think I must have been repressing my grief for my fiance because I was afraid of jumping into the deep end of grief. I have already suffered so much since he’s been gone, that I find it hard to believe that I am STILL sad over his death and feel scared I will never recover. Instead of working so hard like a maniac and dating a million different men, I feel I need to stop now, and take good care of myself, reflect, and continue grieving for my partner until one day I am better again.
I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.
Amanda
Dear Rick,
Please reach out and talk about your feelings. Seek a counselors help.
Blessings,
Gabrielle
Amanda,
I think you’ve made a wise choice to take a break from dating. The fact that a new loss brought you back to the loss of your fiance makes sense to me because grief will accumulate. The other thought I have is that even though you see two years as a long time, it’s not that long in “grief time.” When you dive into your grief and do the work, you will recover. You won’t ever forget your fiance and you may even still miss him but recovery, to me, means feeling your feelings in the moment. In other words, your reaction to being disappointed over the break up would be in proportion with the loss and your grief over your fiance would be separate. Does that make sense? Write a letter to your fiance that includes everything you wish you said to him but didn’t. Journal about your feelings so that you can learn to identify which feelings are sadness over your fiance and which ones are disappointment about something else. Awareness about your feelings is the biggest step toward healing.
Take care,
Gabrielle
Hi Gabrielle,
How do you fit work into all this and staying true to expressing yourself? I have been grieving the past year and have been living with my mother. Im feeling some pressure to go back to work, have applied for jobs, no phone calls yet and today just broke down with a heaviness, sadness, and a flash of suicidal thoughts. I have a great support system but at this point don’t know what to do. Feeling caught in limbo. If I don’t look for work, I can hardly pull myself out of bed, and looking for work makes me feel like I am going against myself. I have no motivation to work, only motivation for prayer, meditation, meetings with my support group. Any suggestions would be so grateful.
Aloha,
Andrea