By definition, grief is defined by a feeling of great sadness, especially when caused by a loss or death. Most individuals can identify with this emotion because they have experienced or will experience a loss at some point in their lives.
As the book points out, there are many faces of grief. Many people suffer a loss of a love one which could be a spouse, parent, friend, family member, significant other or child. Others suffer a loss of a pet who is described as their best friend. The Missing Piece Coping with Grief contains a compilation of 9 personal stories about each person’s experience with grief. One common denominator is that grief is devastating.
I too know grief, not only because of the many losses I have had with loved ones, but because of my loss of identify, my independence and my stability from my cancer diagnosis through my cancer journey into survivorship. I believe most cancer patients may relate to grieving the loss of their life before cancer.
Grief comes in many shapes and sizes. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. However, it is unhealthy if the grief disrupts your normal life as Adriane Deithorn, Face2Face Healing’s Clinical Psychologist, reveals in her story on pages 60-66.
Some golden nuggets that I have learned while dealing with grief are:
- Tell the people you love that you love them.
- Live for today. Don’t wait until tomorrow or next week.
- You are not alone. Let others help you.
- You are allowed to grieve and be angry no matter what type of loss you have but, self -compassion has to be in the mix of moving on to a positive outlook
This book reveals many ways that the storytellers have coped with their loss and how to move forward and is a must read.
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