Death is a natural part of the life cycle. Everything has a life span and everything dies. The grieving process is a natural and necessary part of coping with loss. There are a range of emotions and experiences that individuals go through when they experience a significant loss.
I have always had a fascination with the fact that for some reason most of us try and avoid the subject of death. Particularly in Western society. We prefer not to talk about it. We brush it off with “don’t be so morbid” or “don’t be silly, you will be around for a long time yet.” Even worse, we promise our children or loved ones we will never leave them. A promise which is impossible to keep. This is the main reason why so many are unprepared when it happens to those they love. Or when facing death themselves. When the regret and the recriminations come in. In addition, many people struggle with how to behave around someone who has experienced loss and it can end up with the grieving person feeling even more isolated and alone.
This interest in end-of-life and the grief process deepened when my husband John died in 2019. We had been together for 38 years and he was 81. I was prepared, it wasn’t a shock and yet I was taken by surprise at just how hard grief hit me. Not only that, but there was no warning when it would hit, or how. No rule book I could refer to so I would know what to expect. It was like a tsunami that kept hitting me at the most random of moments. It’s only now, looking back, that I understand how much of what I was feeling was, in fact, all part of the grief process. That took me almost three years to work through. Grief is part of life and we are all going to experience grief at one time or another. Two and a half years after his passing, my Mum died. In complete contrast to my husband’s passing she struggled to let go for over a year and it was heartbreaking to watch.
Through my own grief experiences and following a nudge from the Universe, I obtained certification as a Death Doula with Sacred Dying SA, so that I can offer support for anyone walking the path of grief. Grief and bereavement guidance is available for those experiencing grief as well as supporting those facing end-of-life.
I have combined my work into a powerful offering, one where I hold a non-judgemental safe space to process grief, make sense of, and move beyond loss, to reach a place of acceptance, as well as supporting the physical body, which holds all the emotion and trauma that has been experienced. I also run Journey of Loss Retreats and Grief workshops, both in-person and virtual, for individuals and corporates.
We don’t “get over” grief. We learn to adapt and adjust our lives around it. I hold a loving, safe, non-judgemental space to help deal with and understand the many stages of grief as and when they arise.
A healthy grieving process is essential in order to move on. We are not meant to stay stuck in grief. The only way to walk the path of grief is to feel the emotions and to go into the rawness. There is no way around the grief, we can’t avoid it, or ignore it, the only way is through. I can walk the path with you, so you don’t feel so alone.