Weekly Prompt #2: How Are You Coping With Grief?
Hello all, As you may know, we started weekly prompts to discuss and support each other.
Today's prompt is focused on Grief. There is no wrong or right way to grieve. Grieve is simply grieving and they are valid for everyone who experiences it. It is hard and it is complicated.
Grief is a natural response to losing someone. And everyone experiences it at some point in time. But I imagine the experience of grief and loss for veterans can be heavier. Some of the main reasons a veteran may grieve are:
- loss of a comrade who died
- survivor's guilt
- the transition from active service to civilian life
- loss of someone in the family while active in service
It can be struggling and filled with pain. But I appreciate you all for being here with us and know you have all of us here to talk and discuss anything and everything. You are not alone in this.
Given that, this week's prompt is: What are you grieving for? How are you coping with it?
Please share anything and everything you are comfortable with. We are here discussing and hopefully encouraging and keeping each other accountable to take care of ourselves.
Suggested Threads To Check:
- If you are a Veteran, please introduce yourself here with us <3
- Join us for Veteran Support Session
- Weekly Prompt#1: Never Leave a Brother Behind
Inviting a few friends for their thoughts: @NewYorker11, @KyleBorg, @juliak1968, @philosophicalAcai7803, @GoldenNest2727, @kbear7677 @snowcatman @UnderstandingURpain @Softvision6558 @W4nderingsoul @nightmedic
If you know a fellow veteran, please feel free to tag them in this post so we can all discuss and support together. Also, do suggest any prompts or topics that we want to cover in these discussions <3
I grief for the ones I lost throughout the years. I cope by doing some celebration activity of the things they enjoyed doing. To honor them and their memories.
coping with grief isn’t easy. In fact sometimes the grief doesn’t go away. It stays. But our coping mechanisms play roles and our daily life keeps us going some how. There’s a lot of emotions when I talk about grief personally because it has a lot of means and many negative memories that I overcame by myself. I tried to tell myself that “ i will cry later” to put away my emotions and try to forget them. I’ve also surrounded myself with kids because they just simply make me feel better. I try to treat myself with good food and stuff but appetite doesn’t really come when I’m grieving. Personally, coping with grief is alot of work because it doesn’t really do away, forever. 💔💔
@ASilentObserver
What I’ve always done, and probably will continue to do, is when I lose a loved one I get another flower added to my tattoo of forget me nots. Then I also like doing things they enjoyed or have a drink in their memory (in a safe way) and on their birthdays I like to get a little cupcake or something with a candle and journal about them for a bit. My transition was tough but I maintained contact with my friends in the service as well as trying really hard to make new connections and I’ve been having an easier time.
Grief is not a easy thing to go through and complex of waves of up and down moments!
There is no wrong way to grieve everyone handles it differently and that's ok.
I'm a very emotional person and vocal about my feelings and thoughts. I tend to express it through talking it out and writing it down in journal and staying active by exercising.
I am not coping well at all. I lost two close friends in a single weekend i. October, less than 24 hours apart. I feel like I was standing on a rug that has been violently yanked out from under me. I physically feel that frequently throughout each day.
I just got hospitalized for the quality of coping with my grief that I have been doing. I have had 2 episodes of welfare checks called on me, the last of which was last night. I attempted suicide in the ER and was on an emergency 72 hour hold. Nope, I don't think I am coping much at all.