Dive a little deeper into the topic of pet loss and grief by listening to today's podcast episode. I speak with Julie Marty-Pearson who has a doctorate in psychology and a podcast all about pets. Julie shares her own personal experiences with losing her two fur babies as well as ways to help you cope with the loss of your pet.
#petlossandgrief #petgrief #petloss #copingwithloss #griefandloss #MentalHealth #griefawareness
My grief journey began 27 years ago, when my mom died incredibly suddenly and unexpectedly -- six days after Mother's Day. I was 8 years old. Last year, after many years of feeling lost in terms of finding my passion/purpose, I started pursuing a path of grief support and education. I completed two programs to become both a Grief Support Specialist and a Certified Grief Educator (and I'm starting a third program this coming week). I also launched an Instagram community last year, over Mother's Day weekend, centered around grief support/education that has since grown more than I ever imagined and brings me so much fulfillment as I've made so many meaningful connections and feel I've been able to help others struggling in their own grief journeys.
What I most want people to know is that grief doesn't end -- and it's not supposed to. If you're "still" grieving a long-ago loss (or even one that perhaps wasn't that long ago, but by society's misguided and unrealistic standards you should be "over it" by now)...I want you to know there is nothing wrong with you. Below is a brief excerpt from an essay I wrote and had published by a site called Grappling with Grief:
"Grief is love in another form. If love never ends, why would grief? We will never stop loving those we have lost, and we will never stop grieving their absence in our lives.
Love is forever. Grief is forever." #Grief #griefawareness #griefjourney #griefisnotlinear #griefisforever
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I want to like May, I really do. But I just can’t. Hear me out.
May brings new life. It ushers in a tapestry of flowers and abundant sunshine and the promise of endless summer, of bonfires and warm nights. For me, the stark contrast of loss against a backdrop of such beauty has always been too much to reconcile. Beauty should be born in May. It should not die.
May 14, 1995 was Mother’s Day. I had turned eight years old two months before. I still have a framed photograph from that day of myself, my mom, and our family dog, sitting in the backyard in the sun – my mom in a brightly striped beach chair, me in the grass next to her, leaned in close and clutching on as if to say, “Don’t leave me.” In retrospect, I wonder how much I was actually able to appreciate on a day that’s all about appreciation. Did I thank my mom for all that she did for me? Did I make her a well-intentioned but less-than-impressive card by hand? Did I give her a gift? Did I say, simply, I love you?
Six days later, she did leave me.
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An excerpt from my essay "To May, with Loss," published by The Manifest-Station in 2015. This essay (and all of my other writing) is available at my Linktree page:
As both Mother's Day and my mom's 27th death anniversary approaches, I'm reminded yet again (as I am every year) that not only is grief not linear...it is not time-limited. It doesn't go away. It makes no difference how long it's been; it will always hurt, especially on anniversaries/birthdays/holidays/milestones. It just hurts differently with time.
#Grief #griefawareness #griefsupport #griefjourney #normalizegrief #Loss #Healing #Trauma #motherloss #MotherlessDaughter #childhoodloss #childhoodgrief #childhoodgriefsurvivor #griefsupportcoach #griefsupportspecialist #griefeducator #certifiedgriefeducator #Writing #griefwriting #manifeststation #girlmeetsgrief
Life was so different back in 2006. I was living in western Washington State as a single mother of two teenagers and working full time to support them. With also working a side gig, I was just trying to keep up with all of our crazy schedules. My sixteen year old daughter began to show signs of mental imbalance beginning in July. Unfortunately, although I sought out professional treatment for her, she died by suicide at the end of that year.
My life was shattered and became much different. Every day was painful and surreal. I just wanted my baby back. When I wasn’t at work, I was crying in bed with the blanket over my head. I lived in, “the fog” which is that period of time when a loss survivor struggles with memory. And, I struggled with parenting my other child.
Within nine months of my loss, I was in self-preservation mode. I quit my jobs, my son moved in with his father and I packed up my belongings and moved 2,000 miles away. This was so I could start on the journey of my new normal. Over time, as I attended peer support groups, AFSP walks, and other survivor events, I learned that I had a great support system in other loss survivors. While we all had different stories, a lot of the elements of grief were the same such as struggling with the immense guilt of the loss and losing friends and family who didn’t understand us.
Now, fourteen years after the loss of my daughter, I advocate for others who battle through this pain so they can find some sort of meaning in their tragedy. It’s important for people who haven’t lost someone to suicide to understand that our grief doesn’t fade instantly nor is it linear. Your soul gets deconstructed and you’re forced to put it back together in a totally different way than it existed before. Knowing that my loss, pain and grief journey will help others to battle through their own grief ultimately perpetuates my own healing and brings meaning to my loss. #SuicideLoss #griefawareness #pleasedonthide #AFSP #AAS
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