Doing it Alone.

Bear with me as I go down the “Back in my Day” route (in you head you are probably saying I used to walk back and forth to school, in the snow, with no shoes). When Lauren died in 1998, technology was very limited. I still had a flip phone that was barely able to take a picture, never mind video chat. It would be 5 years before Skype was even invented (the precursor to Zoom). Facebook was also 5 years from being launched. So many of the things we rely on so heavily now were not even around. So, what did my grief journey look like back then?

My first step was to acknowledge that I needed to deal with my grief. All the messages I was receiving from society indicated that I needed to be strong for my parents. No one ever asked how I was dealing with the situation, so I thought it was something I just needed to plow through on my own.

Once I acknowledged that I needed to take a closer look at how my grief was affecting my life, where was I going to turn? I still feel I had to do it alone. So, that is what I did. I did look for books and resources specifically about sibling loss, unfortunately, there were few. So, I searched out tools and strategies that would he help me through my darkest times. That is what brought me to what became known as Somatic Grief Therapy.

Fast forward 25+ years with all the technology we have at our fingertips, you do not need to grieve on your own. There are peer support groups, teletherapy, books, online trainings and all sorts of other resources where you can learn from someone who has been there. To be honest, the reason I work specifically online (privately and in groups) is because geographic location should be no excuse not to get the support you need.

Nowadays, doing it alone is like running into a forrest and hopefully getting out the other side safely. If someone gave you a map to navigate all the pitfalls in the forrest, wouldn’t you take and use the map?

If you need to find resources that would help you on your journey, please reach out to me via email. No one needs to do this alone.

Blessings,

Jason