The Ultimate Guide To Surviving Loss

The title was click bait (I’m sorry). I don’t have an ultimate guide for surviving loss. Loss is highly individual and varied, and therefore, I think it would be completely disingenuous to claim I have the one-size-fits-all solution for you.

So, the bad news is: no one has a catch-all guide. The good news, on the other hand, is: I have my own guide, a guide I want to share with you, with the caveat that it may not work for you.

Now before you read this guide, you need this 10-step guide for reading the guide (yes, I realize how ridiculous that is):

1. I’m defining “loss” in a broad scope, not merely as it relates to death. Loss, to me, is heartbreak of all forms. The athlete that has her life long dream torn (literally) by her ACL. The young man who’s family doesn’t accept that he’s gay. The victims of sexual abuse who have lost some feeling of safety and security as a result. The high school and college graduates that suddenly feel a sense of disconnectedness from the universe. In addition to everything you normally think about when you hear the word “loss.”
2. If loss is the instant something’s disappeared, grief is the process we go through to move forward. There’s this conception that grieving only extends to people who have lost someone to death. I don’t think that’s true. I think we all go through grief…