Five Tips For Coping With Loss

Everyone grieves in their own way. What works for me might not work for you, but I’m hoping at least one of these tips might help make your life’s darkest moments just a little bit easier.

5 – Find your triggers

It’s vital that you learn to identify the things that make you sad. After my mother’s passing, I realized I had to sell my car because it was the same one I used to drive her to chemo sessions. The car was a trigger, and I didn’t realize how much it was bringing me down. Your trigger could be a song, a photo album on your laptop, or a piece of clothing. Once you find it, avoid it – at least in the direct aftermath of a loss. Eventually, that very trigger might be of great help when you need to let it all out. But for a while, stay away.

4 – Keep your friends close

Having lost both parents, I’ve embraced the notion that you build your own family with the people you choose to surround yourself with. Make sure that each of these individuals brings out the best in you, whether that’s through a drive to succeed or an endless sense of optimism. While they might not mean to, many people can bring you down, and it’s important that you temporarily distance yourself from the negative energy and insulate yourself with a whole lot of positivity.

3 – Start appreciating what you have

Take it from me: things can always get worse. As pessimistic as that sounds, it’s sadly true. After the death of my father, I was sure I would never lose my mother so soon. But it happened only a few years later. Bad news is uncompromising, and life doesn’t care if you’ve already hit rock bottom. So learn to be grateful and appreciate your current situation, no matter how disappointing or frustrating it may be. Because even though it might not seem likely, things CAN get worse.

2 – Exercise

I was never into fitness. Four years ago, I discovered group fitness and it changed my life (I’m even an instructor now). Famous classes like BodyPump and BodyCombat are successful for a reason: they get you out of your head and create a fantastic (and healthy) addiction. Both of these classes are available in most gyms across the globe so there’s no excuse for you not to give them a try at least once. And if group fitness isn’t your thing, find a sport that you love (the treadmill is rarely the answer). If you love it, you’ll make it a lifestyle and start looking forward to it every day. So commit to finding what gives you that endorphin high, because there’s nothing quite like it.

1 – Keep busy

I can not stress this enough. Jam-pack your days with things to do from morning to night, and don’t leave much time in-between to think. Having nothing to do often ends with you delving into a depressing cycle of reflection. And don’t worry about being in denial; you’re not. A great loss will always be there, but keeping busy in the period after helps time pass by quicker and gives you some distance. Busy also means embracing a new hobby or passion. For me, that was writing, and I put a lot of effort into building Nad’s Reviews. The cliche is undeniably true: time does heal. But you need to get time moving, and you do that by keeping busy.