7 Tips to Confront Emotional loss
The emotional dimension has to do with an approach or positive disposition towards something or someone. It is a state of empathy which involves the universe of emotions. Existence itself implies periods of suffering, as is the case of losses. Ones which can only be overcome through mourning. In this article, we will give you some recommendations which will help you overcome these painful experiences.
Let’s begin clarifying that grief implies a process which seeks to balance out our emotions after an emotional loss. This process of grief takes place in a context marked by pain, denial, sadness, confusion, rage and guilt.
“Don’t grieve. Everything you lose comes around in another form.”
-Rumi-
When we are going through an affective loss, we perceive our emotions with more intensity and in a deeper form. There are many types of affective losses: the death of a family member or a really close friend, a break up with our significant other, the manifestation of a catastrophic disease such as cancer, the loss of our job or even retirement.
There is a very important aspect we must have in consideration. The more surprising the loss is, the more difficult it will be to get over the grief. Let’s explain this with an example. A close friend of ours gets sick and his condition gets worse as the days go by. His gradual deterioration is clear, and he ultimately dies. This news won’t be surprising to us. On the other hand, if we hanged out with the same friend yesterday, and today we are told about his death, the impact of this news will be bigger. It will also be more difficult for us to overcome his death.
As a general rule, this obeys the fact that we were not aware of the level of dependency we had with that someone. And when the loss arrives, that part of us dies along with the other person. When that happens, we feel helpless.
- Mourning takes time. Wounds heal gradually, and this healing can’t be rushed. Grief must be accepted, sooner or later. And the worst decision we can make is to take shortcuts in order to reduce the pain or try to ignore it.
- In case our grief is over a loss due to the death of someone close to us, it’s not advisable to hide our affliction or to avoid talking about the deceased. Contrary to common belief, talking about the missing person produces relief. It also aids in the healthy evolution of our grief.
- When the pain seems to get worse, and we fall into a crisis, we might experience the desire to hurt ourselves. We might even have suicidal thoughts. In these cases, the best thing we can do is to share our thoughts with someone we trust or seek for therapeutic help.
- There is no right or wrong way to come out of mourning. This process takes several stages and doesn’t have a specific amount time needed for its development. It will depend on each person and the nature and intensity of the loss. There might even be moments when we think we won’t be able to make it through, but we will. We just need to remember the moments in our past in which we felt the same thing.
In addition to the previous recommendations, there are other important aspects when it comes to confronting a loss successfully. They have to do with the management of emotions and subjective perceptions.
The end of a cycle is the beginning of a new one. Behind all suffering a greater well-being can hide. It might be we can’t see it from the beginning, and we have to wait a little while to be able to view it. Loss is a moment of crisis in which we can find our true inner strength. We can transform our suffering into confidence and self-reliance to continue taking risks in life and love.