The Experience of Grief

The Experience of Grief

Introduction

Grief is not just about sadness. There is more to pain than people think. It involves a range of many emotional reactions. These may include emotions, thoughts, behavior, beliefs, among many other things. All these reactions tend to correlate with one another. They, at times, can be overwhelming to the person facing it. Grief at most times comes about as a result of suffering a significant loss, which at times is unexpected. For instance, the death of a loved one. One would not expect that their loved one could die, and finally, when they do, people end up frustrated, not knowing how or what to do to be able to face the loss. They are therefore faced with these mixed emotions that are entirely not a good thing to deal with. Most people even tend to fall into depression if their grief is not handled in due time. The main aim of conducting this interview was to get different insights into the experience of pain.

This interview was conducted in one of the local homes that had lost their son recently. The parents of the boy were present. They were able to share their experience on the loss and how they were able to cope with this loss. The interview did not take long as we only had a few minutes with them since they were already running late for work.

One of the things that caught our attention is that they were so lively and did not seem much bothered that we were there asking questions about the loss of their son.

How did they go about the loss of their son?

The mother answered this question. She explained that losing a son is genuinely demoralizing and heartbreaking. The joy of every mother is to see their son or daughter grow up to become someone of their dreams and to make something out of themselves. The experience was hard, especially for her since she was not able to contain the news for about one mont7h after the death o her only son. The son was only ten years old and had died of a cancerous tumor that had grown in the brain. The mother explained that it had been tough for them ever since the boy was five years old when the cancer was discovered. After a month of grieving, it was now time for her to let go and heal. She attended therapies and acceptance classes, where she shared her pain with others. This showed her that her pain was not as significant as some pains; some people in the group were going through. She let go of this issue, and slowly by slowly, she regained herself, forgot about the problem, and was even ready to back to work. Her husband encouraged her so much and took her all through this. She explains that her son is in a better place now without any suffering.

Did they struggle with depression?

This is something that they struggled with for one month after they buried their son. The mother would have sleepless nights talking to her dead son and requesting her to come to play. Depression, however, is different for various people. The experience one has on depression is different for another person. However, for them, they were able to go past depression with a lot of ease since they had each other. Facing depression is easier when you have someone around to walk the journey with you. It might not be easy if you are alone. Also, going for sharing groups or looking for someone you can share your sorrows with can be a good idea. The father thanked his wife much due to the great help that they gave one another, the support and encouraging words. This is what made them face this problem head-on without having to worry that it was going to escalate into very high levels that would be hard to deal with later on in life. They also advised that the most significant way that you can handle depression is by not overthinking about the issue you are facing or the problem at hand. Always be positive in everything and understand that everything happens for the best.

These challenges are very similar to what I faced after losing my father. He was my best, and I thought that everything and everyone had shut their doors on me. However, theirs is abit better because they had one another to lean on while I had no one at all to help me deal with the situation. I battled depression for years since it was hard for me to bear this grief. Finally, when it was all over, I now use my experience of pain to encourage other people who might be facing the same or worse issues than me.

Conclusion

The experience of grief comes to everyone. Just like change, pain is somewhat unavoidable. However, grief experiences for everyone are different. People, therefore, need to come up with ways in which they are to handle grief as well as using their experience on grief to encourage other people.