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How to Stay Positive After the Death of a Loved One

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You feel like your world just imploded. You’re having trouble sleeping at night. One of your closest loved ones has passed away.

Despite your best efforts, you’re having trouble getting through each day. In short, you’re perpetually overcome by negative thoughts.

The question is: how do you get out of this funk? How do you lift your own spirits when dealing with death? Here is how to stay positive after the death of a loved one.

1. Maintain Contact With Others

When a loved one dies, it’s not unusual for the grieving to isolate themselves. While this is a natural response to death, it’s usually not a healthy one. Isolation can breed even deeper isolation, which can lead to depression and withdrawal from everyday activities.

This can be a tough spot to get one’s self out of. As such, it’s best avoided entirely.

How do you go about avoiding it? By keeping in touch with those who are close to you: your family, your friends, etc. These individuals will not only help to support you in your time of need but will also provide you with an equilibrium that ensures you don’t stray far from the path.

Schedule regular get-togethers with loved ones and make sure that you show up to them. It might be hard at times, but it’s vital to helping you heal.

2. Help With the After-life Proceedings

The weeks spent directly after the death of a loved one can be a whirlwind of emotions. It can be exceedingly difficult to go from seeing someone regularly to not seeing that person anymore at all. For this reason, you must prioritize the way that you handle these following weeks.

Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to get involved in the after-life proceedings (ie. the planning of the funeral, or the cremation, or the burial, or etc.). This is a good way to maintain a connection to the deceased individual even after that person has passed.

So, whether it’s figuring out how long it takes to get the death certificate or arranging a celebration of life after the funeral, make sure to contribute. It could work wonders for your mental health during this difficult time.

3. Do Things That the Deceased Used to Do

Your loved one’s physical being may be gone but that doesn’t mean that their spiritual one has to be. It can be kept alive by you and others which can, in turn, help you to maintain a positive attitude.

How do you go about keeping a person’s spirit alive? Well, generally speaking, by doing something that the deceased would have done.

Maybe you could go golfing (or hunting or water-skiing or otherwise) when the deceased used to go golfing? Maybe you could hold an annual event that honors the deceased individual’s life?

In doing so, you will be maintaining your passed loved one’s legacy. As such, your loved one will always be with you for as long as you live.

4. Engage in Therapy

Regardless of what you do on your own, you’re still bound to have negative thoughts about your loved one’s passing. For this reason, as a means of maintaining a positive attitude, you’re encouraged to engage in therapy.

Therapists are trained to help patients with loss and will be able to support you on both emotional and logical levels. They can even provide you with exercises to help encourage healthy habits during this whirlwind of a time.

Your head is almost certainly rushing with thoughts. If you don’t get those thoughts out, they can devour you. A therapist serves as the perfect, non-judgemental sounding board.

5. Pick up a New Hobby

This might feel like the worst time to get invested in a new hobby but, in actuality, it’s the best. Taking on a new hobby will not only serve as a positive distraction from the negative thoughts that are going through your head but it will also help to keep up your self-esteem, as you’ll be able to see yourself getting better at something over time.

In short, a hobby will keep you busy. And in a time when you’re looking for a reason to self-destruct, that can make all the difference in the world.

6. Go to the Gym

When it comes to your health, the mental has a strong connection with the physical. By improving your physical health, you can greatly improve your mental health as well. As such, after the death of a loved one, you need to make sure that you’re getting to the gym.

Not only will exercise help to release “good-feeling” chemicals in your body but it will also help you to work off stress, tension, and grief. Run, lift weights, or do whatever else is necessary to get your blood pumping. It will have a positive impact.

7. Travel

Sometimes, it just helps to get away for a while. This is particularly true after a loved one has died.

See, you might heavily associate your living space with your loved one. If so, you might constantly see things that remind you of him or her. This can be a positive thing down the road, but, for now, it can inspire strong negative thoughts.

Traveling to a different city or town allows you to be in a new place with a blank slate. It allows you to remove yourself from negative associations and just feel like a regular human being again for a while.

Knowing How to Stay Positive Can Lessen the Blow Substantially

Dealing with death isn’t easy. It can bring even the cheeriest of individuals into a very dark place. But by knowing how to stay positive, you can do wonders for your recovery and your overall quality of life.

If you’re searching for tips on similar topics, our website has you covered. Take a look at some of our other articles now!

I'm Nikos Alepidis, blogger at motivirus. I'm passioned for all things related to motivation & personal development. My goal is to help and inspire people to become better.

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