My experience of loss and the journey I am on will be
different to many others. We all experience loss and grief - it is a fact of life.
I was a child who
experienced traumatic loss and that loss was unknowingly kept buried in my physical
body. I didn’t suffer grief for prolonged periods, I got on with life and to
the outside world I was fine.I never realised for forty years that I had not successfully
processed the grief.
When people talk about Loss and grief and what that journey
is, I will listen to those who have suffered similar to me, and not to those
who say..for example have lost a parent in a normal natural life event.
They are two very different scenarios, granted I have yet to
lose a parent, though I have lost grandparents and suffered no grief at all.
That’s not to say I didn’t love my grandparents, I did, very much so. Again I
am not saying that losing a grandparent involves no grief and loss, as for some
that might be traumatic to them. It depends on the strength of connectedness to
the grandparent.
I believe that anyone who has experienced loss and grief and
deep emotions around it, would never minimise another’s grief. For those who
suffer a traumatic loss, the range of emotions is quite profound.
This brings me on to the point I want to make.
Will the ones who haven’t suffered grief let alone loss,
keep their opinions to themselves.! I mean what makes them so opinionated! Their
opportunity to learn is just around the corner.
I don’t want telling that loss and grief is about lack of ‘coping
skills’…..I have heard this a few times!
That is like telling someone who has just had their leg
blown off and the subsequent emotions that follow, are due to a lack of coping skills.
Not a welcome comment!
Some of my best coping skills was to dance and undertake
physical exercise and challenges. It was as if by spinning the body, healing
could take place. I focussed on my gymnastics and grew my physical strength.
These days I dance.
Loss can drive incredible energy to succeed and survive- It
comes as no surprise to me that there is now an Olympic team of refugees –.
These athletes exemplify the heights of the pain and suffering they have
endured and how it is possible to overcome the challenges.
Coping skills? Yes we
have them!
And it took grief and loss to find them!
Go Refugee Olympians 2016
Shine bright like the diamonds you are!
No comments:
Post a Comment