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The Unexpected Dinnner Guest
The Unexpected Dinner Guest
You know that moment when grief taps you on the shoulder and asks to join you for dinner? You feel a bit shocked, you haven’t prepared enough food to cater for such an unexpected visitor. We all get that right?
We are aware, that grief doesn’t up and disappear but sometimes when we least expect it, it pops in and stays for a while. For what feels like the most obscure of reasons. When we are minding our own business, doing the washing or driving to work. A friendly reminder that we are human, that we feel and that it’s ok to not always have it together.
The term “caring for ourselves while we care for others” has been talked about a lot lately, especially in a time that has been taxing on our emotional and mental health. So on behalf of all those you care for, thank you. Thank you for your empathy, for your support, for your words of wisdom, for doing your job and more!
Working in an industry that not only supports, but educates on the impacts, ups and downs and ongoing nature of grief, sometimes we can forget about our own.
Last week, my grief paid a visit and I didn’t realise it at the time. Someone I don’t know, lost a friend that I had never met. Someone else lost someone they love and my mind went to their family, their friends and them in that moment. How someone who seemed so vibrant could be so lost. I felt such sadness for the loss of a woman I had never met. Was it grief, was it empathy, or was it both?
I shared once that I was inconsolable when my cat passed away and was so unsure why it affected me so much. Sure I loved the cat, but this much? Then I was reminded of a very soothing analogy. Greif is like filling up a back pack, you throw in some breakups, a loss, that time you lost your favourite earrings and then the cat. Well, for me, she just tipped it right over and I couldn’t carry it anymore.
This is your friendly reminder, to check in with yourself, feel whatever it is you need to, take a break, see family, do whatever it is you need in the moment. You never know when your unexpected dinner guest will pay a visit.
