On grief and healing

By Imou Eparis

The battle was hard. We thought we had won but death was working harder to have you, to take you. I remember the doctors telling us, you were getting better, that you still had many years ahead of you. I had no medical doubt about it.

“ Even after stabilizing we were still not out of danger as such cases have a possibility of becoming tragic overnight”, the doctor admitted, after finding your body cold as ice, on your hospital bed, all alone.

Three years down the line and our hearts are still heavy but we are learning how to cope. Now whenever we close our eyes we can see you and when we reach with our hearts we can touch you. You will always be in our hearts. Rest well.

Grief is an occurrence that is unfortunately inevitable. Grief is a natural response to losing someone or something that is important to you. It will occur at one point in all of our human lives. Sooner or later we will all lose someone.

While in grieving mode you might not be able to carry out certain everyday tasks while burdened with the sense of loss. Grief is a blanket over one’s mind, a numb feeling, it is a heavy but empty heart that breaks you down molecule by molecule, removing you from everyday life and if you are not careful before long you might end up falling into depression.

Don’t be alarmed there are a lot of ways a person can resolve their grief. Try finding a healthy way to express yourself though the person can never be brought back to life, resolving those feelings of grief is important.

One way that helped me with grief is journaling. Journaling is writing down your thoughts .Matter of fact, many people find journaling valuable and meaningful and report feeling better afterward myself included. As a person who isn’t as open as I would like to be, journaling really helped take a load off my chest .Journaling helped crystalize my thoughts on paper. I became less distressed, anxious and my sleeping patterns improved greatly. Journaling is a safe and judgment free zone to explore your muddled thoughts and feelings, to find ways to remember your loved ones and record an ongoing journey of grief.

Grief journaling helped me in a number of ways and it can help anyone who is going through grief as well.

Imou Eparis is a student of Literature and Linguistics at Kenyatta University