Category: Grief recovery

Signs you’re probably dealing with unresolved grief

By Joanna BartlettFebruary 12, 2019February 8, 2019 Categories: Grief recovery, Healing Tags: grief recovery method, healing from loss, signs of grief, unresolved grief

How do you know if you’ve experienced loss? It may seem like a silly question, but we often discount and minimize the real impact of our losses. We’re taught to do this by society and our family. It’s ingrained in us to get over and get on with things, which means we usually don’t give…

When your pet dies, what you feel is real grief

By Joanna BartlettJanuary 18, 2019January 18, 2019 Categories: Grief recovery Tags: grief recovery, grieving a pet, losing a loved one, pet loss

If there’s a loss where people feel like their emotions are swept aside and discounted, it’s when a beloved pet dies. Not only that, but we often have a host of conflicting emotions about our pet’s death and our part in it.

What to say to a grieving friend

By Joanna BartlettJanuary 12, 2019January 12, 2019 Categories: Grief recovery Tags: friendship, grief, grief recovery, loss

You’ve seen it come across your Facebook feed. A friend’s parent or in-law has just died.

A sense of loss fills you. Compassion rises up and your heart goes out to them. You wish you could make the pain better.

You likely don’t know what to say.

The causes of grief you may not have considered

By Joanna BartlettJanuary 1, 2019January 1, 2019 Categories: Grief recovery Tags: causes of grief, grief recovery, grief recovery method

Loss is part of life. We lose things all the time: our keys, our glasses, our cell phones, sometimes even our minds. But when it comes to grief, people often think mostly about two types of loss: death and divorce. Those are certainly losses – no matter how you feel about the person who’s no…

Eating your way through the holidays? You might be trying to eat your grief

By Joanna BartlettDecember 21, 2018December 21, 2018 Categories: Grief recovery Tags: grief and loss, grief recovery method, holiday stress, holidays

For many of us, the holiday season isn’t the time of joy that we’re told it’s supposed to be. When carols start playing on the radio, instead of making you want to go shopping and decorate the house with wreaths and tinsel, it makes you want to hide under the covers with a bag of…

The 6 myths of grief: Give it time

By Joanna BartlettNovember 8, 2018 Categories: Grief recovery Tags: grief myths, grief recovery, recovering from loss

Some of the sayings, old wives tales and clichés we grew up with contain truth. Sometimes a kernel and sometimes a lot. They have value, especially when we can see beneath the surface. Some of them, though, they just don’t. Grief myth #6: Give it time You’ve probably heard the saying, “Time heals all wounds.”…

The 6 myths of grief: Stay busy

By Joanna BartlettOctober 23, 2018November 1, 2018 Categories: Grief recovery Tags: grief myths, grief recovery, grief recovery method, healing from loss, myths of grief

When my Mum died, very shortly after an unexpected cancer diagnosis, I took charge and got on with things. “What else am I going to do?” I thought. “Someone has to.” Grief myth #5: Stay busy I took all my available vacation time, plus a couple of extra days when my boss donated some of…

The 6 myths of grief: Be strong for others

By Joanna BartlettOctober 11, 2018October 11, 2018 Categories: Grief recovery Tags: grief myths, grief recovery

If internal strength and emotional fortitude were visible like muscles, I’d look like a bodybuilder. How about you? When I was 10, I moved from England to Barbados, a lovely little island in the Caribbean. I’d been living with my dad, step-mother, brother and baby half-sister in England and I moved to another country with…

The 6 myths of grief: Grieve alone

By Joanna BartlettOctober 1, 2018 Categories: Grief recovery Tags: grief, grief myths, grief recovery method, healing from loss

Even though it’s been more than 30 years since I left England (I was 10, if you’re counting), sometimes I still feel extremely British. Dealing with my hurt and pain is one of those times. It’s during those times, when I’m grieving and vulnerable, that I’m mostly likely to fall back onto a strongly-rooted default…

The 6 myths of grief: Replace the loss

By Joanna BartlettSeptember 15, 2018September 12, 2018 Categories: Grief recovery Tags: grief, grief recovery, grief recovery method, loss, pet loss

Do you remember your first romantic crush or relationship? Are you still with that person? I’m not. Michael J. Fox seem to be happily married to someone else and I wholeheartedly hope it stays that way. But I was crushed when I realized it was never going to work out between me and Marty McFly….