While we grow up we go to our fair share funerals, the realization of how mortal we are doesn’t always impact us until someone our own age passes away. Nowadays, with the number of deaths caused by alcohol problems at such a young age, this highlights a major epidemic. And no matter how tragic it is to have someone pass away at such a young age, when a close friend of yours meets their untimely demise, the grieving process can be incredibly difficult. So what do we go through when our best friend passes away?

A Feeling Of Unimportance

This is a very difficult one, because the family are experiencing a terrible time too. You might think that you spent time with them more than their own family did, and so, the family may not realize how close you actually were. It’s important at this point to connect with the family, and share important moments of friendship you had together. 

Isolation

Following on from this, if you feel like they were the only person in the world that understood you, you can retreat into your shell. You might not feel that people are giving you the time you need to grieve. As a result, your relationship with your family, or your friends could change, possibly forever. What can add complexity to this is if you were incredibly close to them a long time ago, but life pulled you two apart. When going through this, it’s important to not isolate yourself, but also, make sure that you are looking after yourself, but also celebrating their life in a positive light. It can be very difficult when you are overcome with grief.

What You Can Do For Yourself

When going through grief, we can tend to neglect ourselves. You may not want to get out of bed, or not want to do anything. It’s important to make sure you are giving yourself time to grieve, and do it in your own way. Reaching out to the family is a way to provide positive reminders of your relationship with the person, but it’s important to maintain your distance, just in case they are going through a particularly difficult time. They may be struggling, especially if it came like a bolt out of the blue, or there are legal complications, such as a wrongful death suit, arising from the passing away of this person. If you’ve never been through this type of grief before, it could be difficult to find what your coping style is. You could use this experience to try something new. Perhaps research your own family and ancestry in more detail, taking the opportunity to uncover branches of your family tree; go to the website to find out more. Once you find something that does help, stick to it. In fact, routine can help you a lot throughout this process.

Grief is one of those funny things where you can feel like you are on your own, even if so many others are going through it with you. This is especially true if it’s someone new feel like you’ve had an intrinsic bond with. You might think like you will never have this type of friendship again, and so it can hurt bad. But take your time, everything will be alright.

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