Our Emotional Health & Grief
Grief can render us on the most emotional journey we might travel. It can plunge us into surprising states of agony and innermost chaos especially if loss is unexpected, sudden, and/or traumatic.
Is GRIEF itself considered an emotion? Opinions vary. Grief is sometimes thought of as a singular emotion. It is also thought of as a multi-faceted process including many emotions. I believe it's both. Grief has such a distinct feeling, and it can be hard to explain. I think one of the most distinct aspects of grief are the intense waves it brings.
Below is a list of many emotions associated with grief. If you are feeling any of these emotions, know that these are normal reactions when grieving.
Sadness: Feeling the profound sense of our loss.
Anger: Being frustrated or resentful about our loss or the circumstances surrounding it.
Guilt: Feeling regretful or responsible. It can be related to things left unsaid or undone. Most people have guilt with grief. It is a way to try to make sense out of a death even though most deaths are not truly preventable by those who grieve.
Exhaustion/fatigue: There is so much effort going on in our brains and pysche when trying to process a loss. That, along with stress it brings, can lead to feelings of tiredness or depletion.
Shock: At first many people experience shock which can be felt as disbelief or numbness. This reaction often occurs immediately after a loss and makes it hard to fully comprehend what has happened. It can help protect our brains from experiencing the magnitude of what has happened all at once.
Loneliness: A profound sense of isolation and feeling disconnected from others. It can occur even when we are surrounded by others feeling the loss of the same person or a similar loss. We all have unique relationships with our loved ones that no one else has experienced.
Anxiety: Worries about how to cope and/or fears about facing life without a loved one. Life is hard for many of us when we are in limbo. The death of someone we love can bring on the biggest of "limbos."
Helplessness: Feeling unable to change the situation or alleviate the pain can lead to a sense of powerlessness. It can feel as if grief has hijacked us, and in a large sense, it does for a period of time.
Numbness: Emotional detachment or inability to feel emotions can be a protective response to overwhelming grief.
Fear: When anxiety about the future, fear of forgetting a loved one, or worries about experiencing more loss are present.
Confusion: Difficulty processing the loss and/ or understanding what it means for the future. "Grief brain" can result in "foggy" thinking and difficulty with memory and making decisions.
Relief: In cases where a loved one has been in a place of prolonged suffering before their death, there may be a sense of relief that their suffering has ended. Caregivers might feel relief from the toll that can weigh heavily on their own emotional and physical health.
Yearning: A deep longing for the person who has died. Sometimes, we can physically feel this in our heart space.