My Year of Grief and How I Managed To Get Through It

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Without a doubt 2020 was one of the most disappointing years in recent memory. It just kept slapping us in the face and when we thought we could not get any lower it just kept drowning us. I hate sounding like a downer. I really do, I always try to stay positive. But in truth, I had an overwhelming year, and I am barely coming up for air.

Last year started off with the most painful loss of my mother passing away in January. It is really hard to grasp that a whole year has come and gone, and I managed to survive somehow!? Then the whole world gets flipped over and everything is crazy with a global pandemic. Other people I know lost loved ones and they lost jobs and they lost their sanity. It’s enough to make anyone wonder …what is happening to this world?

I find myself wondering how did I get through a whole year without losing myself completely? It was really hard, I had my family, my friends, and when I wanted to give up, I remembered I needed to be strong for my daughter. Being strong doesn’t have to mean you can’t cry or break, because I have done my fair share of crying. Believe me.  The holidays were rough not being able to be around family and not doing the normal things I wanted to do. It helped to have my friends to talk to, group chats, zoom calls. Reminiscing with family about our favorite memories. Sharing my favorite photos to social media for others to see how special my mother was to me. Keeping her memory alive helps me focus less on the fact that I went a whole year without the most important person in my life and more on the love we all had for her.

I am not saying it is easy at all. It has been extremely difficult, my year of grief was complex and chaotic, but I managed to get through it. Are you grieving for a loved one? How are you getting through it?

My hope for us all is to look to each other and know we are not alone in our grief no matter the situation.