Experiencing a bereavement can feel totally overwhelming; like you’re out at sea and you have no idea if you’ll ever see the shore again. You may feel a myriad of emotions from anger to disbelief, guilt or profound sadness.
🌱 Grow with our courses
Explore our courses – including Mental Health: Supporting Ourselves and the Grief Journey Workbook – on our dedicated Grief & Mental Health Training page.
We asked our Instagram followers for their tips on how to cope with a bereavement and they came up with some brilliant advice…
“Surround yourself with good friends. Be kind to yourself, some days simply getting dressed feels like a huge achievement, and that’s ok. Your life will never be the same once you lose someone you love, so do what you need to do and at your own pace.“
“Do the grieving your own way. Be kind to yourself & look after your emotional & physical needs. 💜“
“People are going to offer you terrible, insensitive opinions on how to cope. Try and accept that as the norm.“
“I lost my husband in August to GBM 4 and I would say try and keep yourself busy but definitely surround yourself with good friends.”
“Give yourself permission to feel all the emotions, however difficult that feels. 🤍🌈🌱✨“
“It takes a while but try to understand that everyone had a different relationship with your person and you won’t all grieve the same. 🩷“
“Give yourself time to find the new you. You are now forever changed. Your tolerance for people may be lower, you may anger quicker, some days you’ll be triggered by something and burst into tears, others you’ll get through without a tear. Learn to live with the grief not “get over it”. Be kind to yourself. No one knows YOUR grief.“
Would you like to add your advice to our list? Share your thoughts for coping with grief – email our team via info@thelossfoundation.org.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
🧠 Understand the ‘Stages’ of Grief
The idea of “stages” is one of the most widely recognised ways people make sense of grief – but it’s often misunderstood.
Our Stages of Grief page explains where the model came from, what the stages really mean, and how they can help (without implying grief follows a neat, linear path).
Explore the page to learn:
📘 What the Five Stages really are (and aren’t)
🧭 Why grief doesn’t follow a straight line
🌊 How emotions can come in waves
🧩 How different grief models may help you