We all experience various forms of grief & loss throughout our lives, whether we are mourning the death of a loved one, a breakup, grieving the life we once had (or wish we could still have). While feelings such as denial, anger, bargaining, sadness or acceptance may overtake us, what is important to remind ourselves is what we do with those feelings, so they do not take up too much space. If you were to train for a marathon, you would learn how to pace yourself to endure the 26.2 miles, right? Well, we are all running in this COVID marathon together, but the problem is that we don’t know how many miles it is. So how do we pace ourselves so there won’t be inevitable burnout, exhaustion, or allowing this grief to overwhelm us? Many of my clients share with me their experience with ‘Anticipatory grief’ to which together we identify various mindfulness techniques to help focus on the present….in order to pace ourselves in the race.
-Jamie Silvers, LCSW