Mental Health - Widower Experience (WX)

If you're planning or about to spend the holidays alone, here are some suggestions on how to avoid feeling lonely. By the way as one of my main focus of my blog is around grieving - I might have a look at the article I wrote beginning of December " Managing Bereavement during the Holidays " The holiday season is usually full of happiness, love, and people coming together, but this is not the case for everyone. Whether you're alone choice or due to circumstances such as being geographically or emotionally distanced from family and friends, there are ways to cope with being alone during the holidays. Feeling lonely, sad or uninspired is normal, particularly if this situation is new for you or if you're dealing with loss. However, it might be beneficial to find ways to lighten your mood and make the holidays easier to get through. Adjust your expectations Television, movies, and social media often portray a perfect holiday season, which can make you feel like you...

While writing my blog, I’m keen to emphasize that my thoughts are mainly based on my own experience - increased by talks I had with other grievers aren’t aimed at any one person, or a particular community, culture or tradition. Instead, it recognizes that our collective ‘society’ - a many-faceted, diverse, rich in variety time and environments - has strong opinions and a very loud voice which influences how we navigate - and talk about grief. As a result, society and 'good' friends, colleagues impose expectations and judges people – especially when they’re grieving – by telling them what they ‘should do’, how long they ‘should’ grieve, and how they ‘must’ feel. If someone doesn’t cry at the funeral, or if someone does cry but for ‘too long’, society assumes there’s something wrong with them. In the recent months I wrote a lot about grief, how to deal with grief and death - but this time I thought it is time to write how to deal with grieving people - for people who ask themsel...

Finding orientation is a challenge in a world full of different and  varying  values and cultures. One possibility might lies in personal and collective reflection about the values that guide us and the different cultures in which we live. What kind of life is dignified? What is dying with dignity? But sooner or later a much bigger problem arises: Who judges what is  dignified for  human? Each person for himself? A cultural community? Ethics experts? State institutions? Churches or religious community? Each of the named seems on the one hand to be overwhelmed by answering this - on the other hand, there are institutions that demand general validity.  Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road of life someone else. Everyone must travel and define the road themself. It is not far. It is within reach. If not work on it . because you have been on it since you were born. You should know which places and how you want to visit them - and if the road of life is getting...