Not everyone dreads Monday morning. Some of us are lucky enough to skip into the beginning of the week, doing a job that we love. But for some of us, there's another reason that makes work feel like a blessing. Our workplace can offer a powerful distraction from everything else that's going on in our life. And if home life has tumbled into grief, anxiety, trauma or fear, then we might welcome this distraction with open arms. I spoke to Metro all about grief. Click here to read the full article, and read on to what I had to say.
Grief can be overwhelming and unpredictable.
It can bring a whole range of feelings at different times and intensities. Sadness, anger, frustration, depression, anxiety, resentment, and much more.
And when we are overwhelmed by this wave of complex feelings, it feels natural to seek a distraction.
Grief isn’t a short contained process, with a neat beginning and ending.
It’s a new part of our life story.
It can ebb and flow, and we learn how to cope with it and to grow around it.
Our work commitments can help us to feel a sense of stability and distraction. To act as an anchor when everything around us has become destabilised.
Work might allow us to feel a sense of normality when everything around us has changed. To allow us to feel a sense of our own identity, rather than feeling as if it has been subsumed with grief.
But, here's the note of caution.
Distracting ourselves from our grief can mean that are simply suppressing or ignoring our feelings.
And if this is the case, then it’s important to remember that these feelings don’t just go away. They might lie within our subconscious.
Our feelings can make themselves known in sudden unpredictable ways, though outbursts of anger or panic attacks, for example. Or through physical sensations or symptoms, aches and pains and sleeplessness.
There really is no right or wrong way to process grief. It’s helpful to allow ourselves the space to tune in with our feelings. To find an outlet for these feelings, and to find alternative strategies for coping. This might be conversations with friends and family, physical activity, creative endeavours, or exploring our feelings in counselling.
Keen to explore more? In counselling we can take a deeper look at how you feel about yourself. Click here to contact me, or click here to book a 30-minute introductory call.
