This Is Helping Me . . .

From time to time when I receive something that has been helpful to me I will share it here in the blogosphere.  🙂

This is an especially hard week for me.  Monday marked the 6th month anniversary of Kevin’s death.  I’m a ‘date’ person for some reason.  I worked at making certain days and events special in the lives of my family and so I think that is why the 6th of the month never goes unnoticed by me.  But this 1/2 year mark means that it’s been 6 months since I heard his voice.  6 months since he walked out of the house and didn’t return.  The heaviness has been stifling and I’m sure that many people go through times like this for various reasons.  I have reached out to a few people and their advice has been a God send to me so I thought it was worth sharing:

• Lean into the grief – allow those emotions to take its course.  Be present in this moment and know that you are not alone and while your pain may feel unique, it’s not.  Others go thru the exact same thing but for different reasons
• Change the atmosphere around you – play your favorite gospel music where ever you are, when ever you can.  It changes the focus of your thoughts.  It allows God to minister to your heart without you doing anything but listening, especially because you may not have the energy to do anything but listen.
• Make healthy choices – during painful periods it is tempting to look for something to dull the ache.  Unhealthy choices like drugs or alcohol will be detrimental to your healing.  Please avoid at all cost.

No one is ever prepared for this but we will get through it and live again.  It will be different, but it will be.

Take care of yourself . . . 🙂