Grief and mourning, like everything else, have been impacted by the spread of Covid-19. We must find new ways to show up for ourselves and others with love and compassion.
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Posted in , Apr 17, 2020
When someone dies, there is a typical sequence of events that most people go through. There’s the death itself, the news of which is either delivered by shock-inducing phone call or is mournfully anticipated by loved ones gathered in a hospital room or around a home hospice bed.
There’s the whirlwind of a funeral or other celebration of the person’s life. There’s the time spent with friends and family, the deliveries of food and the sharing of memories, laughter and tears.
Those are the rituals of mourning, mostly centered on the profound power of being together—and anyone going through a loss during the coronavirus pandemic knows that those rituals aren’t available to us right now.
Grief is a long process, famously associated with multiple stages. That has not changed in the time of coronavirus, but the way we grieve and mourn will, in the short term, need to take a new shape.
Here are some ideas for how offer support to a grieving loved one—even when you can’t be physically present with them:
If you are grieving a loss yourself, here are some things to keep in mind to cultivate some self-compassion:
Most importantly, know that whatever you are going through, you are not alone.