Tips to Grieve 2020
It has been a hard year:
Everything has closed down.
Racial injustice was amplified in the media with people justifying it, which has been happening but now with more witnesses.
Plans and goals have shifted or were canceled.
There is the general theme of injustice and loneliness.
It’s been a fucking hard year.
Our society does not allow for grief. Instead, you’re trained to look on the bright side and pull yourself from the bootstraps. These habits and values do not make you feel better, rather you feel awful, discouraged, and overwhelmed. You don’t need that extra pain.
TIPS FOR LETTING YOURSELF GRIEVE 2020
Don’t minimize your disappointments
You had plans. Or maybe you didn’t. But you missed getting together with friends, traveling, massages, or just being out in public. Instead, in order for you to keep yourself and others safe, you social distanced as much as you could given that isolation is not good for mental health - and we’ve been doing it for over 9 months. There is no need to dismiss yourself for being sad these things didn’t happen.
Let yourself sit in the feeling
I know it's hard, but let yourself sit in the uncomfortable emotion. Listen to your body and validate the emotions and sensations. If you’re feeling sad and disappointed, you had a legit reason. You’re bummed for not being able to do what makes you excited. It sucked that you didn’t see people. The more you care, the more it hurts.
Don’t judge yourself for having the feelings
This is where “bad” feelings can spiral. Remind yourself that you are allowed to feel what you feel. That means you get to cry or feel angry if that’s legitimately how you feel. Once you feel like you have taken care of yourself by making space for the emotion, it will be easier to move onto other things. In fact, if you do judge yourself, it almost guarantees that you will continue to feel miserable.
As you’re getting ready for this year to end and the new year to begin, take care of yourself. Take breaks from social media if the content is getting you stuck and leading to self-judgments.