Loss

It is okay to grieve loss.

You are used to grieving for the loss of people and pets, but sometimes we lose other things.

With my list of cancer, MS, and now two surgeries on my medical chart I lost my perfect health record.  I didn't lose my health, I still have a lot of healthy parts to me, but I took pride in my perfect chart and grieved a little when it was first lost.  Now I'm getting used to what I have and the grieving doesn't come so often.

Sometimes we grieve a loss of tradition.  As children grow up and become adults they often have their own families or busy schedules and our normal traditions that we treasured for years often have to change.  The new traditions will be wonderful and great and will provide numerous memories, but for a moment it is okay to to be sad that the old traditions are changing.

Sometimes we grieve the loss of our things.  Usually these things carry stories with them like the favorite mug given by the relative that passed away.  It isn't that we are really sad about the mug.  We are sad that the mug we grabbed everyday won't daily be one of the reminders we have of that loved one.  It is okay to grieve that loss for a moment.  Fortunately, we usually have other ways to remember those we love.

Losses happen all the time.  We lose jobs either by choice or necessity, we will miss the people and the familiarity.  Cars leave us.  We sell them, trade them, or break them.  The car bears memories that we will have to work a bit harder to recall.  We move out of homes and lose the daily reminders they give us.  We lose moments we waste worrying about things that eventually work out perfectly.

Loss of all types brings grief.  Not all grief takes us down the same path.  My grief over people will never come close to the grief of losses of things.  But just because they are things doesn't mean we aren't allowed to be a little sad.  We can remember, cry a little if we have to, and then prepare ourselves for the next thing.  Sometimes the next thing is recognizing the strength you will get from the loss.  Sometimes the next thing is moving forward with the new.  Sometimes we simply take a moment, then move on.

Don't disregard your loss as unimportant.  It is okay to be sad for losses.

The most important thing is to set your mind on what you still have and what amazing things will be coming to replace the loss.