Moving Forward as a Widow
Moving forward as a widow requires courage and intention. Here are a few ways to help you move forward in acceptance:
1. Acknowledge Your Journey: Recognize and honor the journey you've undertaken. Every tear, every moment of pain has brought you to this point of acceptance. It is a difficult road to travel, and it’s important to acknowledge the enormity of what you have gone through.
2. Prioritize Self-Care: This is one that I did not do well in my journey through grief until I was forced to. I had been burning the candle at both ends for too long, and it caught up to me. Be sure to listen to your body, rest when needed, exercise, spend time in nature and do things that fill your cup.
3. Seek Support: Engage in support groups or counseling. Sharing your journey with others who understand can provide comfort and a healthy outlook. Staying involved in my local church and getting one on one counseling was vital to my healing. It helped me gain perspective, understand unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors I was unaware of and change them, and see how the Lord had been working in my life, even through my overwhelm.
Read more...The Benefits of Acceptance
Acceptance is a critical milestone in the grieving process. It allows for genuine healing to begin. By facing the reality of your loss, you open the door to emotional recovery. Acceptance also fosters resilience by helping you to adapt to your new life circumstances. This stage can bring a sense of peace and relief, freeing you from the heaviness of intense grief and denial. It enables you to cherish the loving memories of your spouse without being consumed by overwhelming sorrow.
In my life, I have noticed that the stages of grief come and go. They are intertwined, and sometimes I have found myself in more than one stage at the same time. Acceptance is a process. I believe I went in and out of acceptance and back into several of the other stages before finally fully settling in acceptance. There have been times when I have relapsed into an earlier stage due to a difficult life circumstance or a sudden loss that took me by surprise, and I would fall back into depression or anger. Difficult seasons have taken me right back to the trauma of the events surrounding my husband’s illness and death, and I feel like I am grieving all over again. But it doesn’t last, and I find that even though it is challenging to get through, acceptance is right around the corner.
Read more...Acceptance
Our conclusion to this series comes with a great deal of hope. The last stage in the stages of grief is acceptance, and it encompasses the convergence of understanding, healing and hope. Acceptance is intricately woven into the other stages, and as you work through each stage, there is an element of acceptance in each of them.
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