As you get older, it’s natural to experience the loss of your loved ones. It’s a natural part of life. However, when you experience multiple losses in quick succession, it can be overwhelming. Processing multiple losses at once isn’t easy and can lead to bereavement overload.
To help you understand the symptoms of bereavement overload and learn healthy coping strategies to help you live with your loss, we’ve outlined a full guide on the subject below.
What Are The Effects of Bereavement Overload?
When you experience bereavement overload, it could result in a number of clear symptoms. For example, you might find that you feel numb, and are unable to express your emotions. This can cause frustration and make you feel all the more overwhelmed.
Additionally, you might find yourself avoiding places and people that remind you of your loss. When it feels like your old memories trigger too much emotion to handle, you might isolate yourself from them, which could then prolong your grief.
It’s also very common to experience guilt after experiencing the loss of your loved ones. You might think about what you could have done differently to prevent the loss or think about how you took your lost loved ones for granted.
If you’re experiencing any number of these symptoms following a loss, it’s important to learn to cope in healthy ways. For example, you may want to make a point to socialize with others instead of isolating yourself.
Helpful Coping Strategies
While grief can be daunting, healthy coping mechanisms can help you live through it. It isn’t always going to be easy to prioritize your mental health, but it’s necessary to do. Some strategies that will help you live with your loss include:
Talking to a loved one: It’s important to have people you can trust and talk to about your experience. Sometimes, just realizing that you aren’t alone is enough to help you live with your grief.
Journaling: Similarly, a journal is a great outlet where you can articulate how you feel about your loss. Maybe you record old memories that you keep playing in your head. Maybe you write about how unfair it feels that you lost your loved ones. Once you record your feelings onto paper, it helps you accept the reality of what has happened.
Practice routines: In the beginning of experiencing an overwhelming loss, you might experience a huge loss of motivation. This is why routines are so important. Just having a routine of showering, eating and sleeping at the right times will help you stay grounded and healthy. In contrast, if you let your routines fall apart, it could cause you to feel even more overwhelmed.
As you cope with your loss, make sure to take care of your health in general. Sometimes simply feeding yourself the right meals and taking care of your body can go a long way toward keeping you grounded emotionally.
Final Thoughts
Even with the above strategies, your grieving process isn’t guaranteed to be easy. Losing a loved one never is.
The truth is, your entire life changes when you experience the loss of someone important to you. You might experience grief for years down the road. But healthy self-care strategies can help you continue to move on with your life.
Pines Village Retirement Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit senior living community in Valparaiso, Indiana, with two campuses: Pines Village and Meridian Woods. The Pines Village campus offers pet-friendly independent living apartments with the option to add assistive services à la carte or in packages. The Meridian Woods campus consists of maintenance-free paired homes and Campbell St. Cafe, which, in addition to being a restaurant open to the public, hosts events and acts as a meeting space for residents and local nonprofits.
At Pines Village, we celebrate life by enriching the lives of older adults. We pride ourselves on our culture, which is driven by a passion for serving the residents, visitors, and staff of Pines Village as well as the greater Valparaiso community. Explore our senior apartment availability, learn more about our assisted living options, or contact us with any questions today.
