Grief is an emotional journey during holiday season
Some people remember loved ones and express grief with seasonal decorations at gravesites like these at the Bellefontaine Cemetery. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | REUBEN MEES)
One only has to flip to the Hallmark Channel’s 24-7 presentation of holiday movies beginning before Thanksgiving and continuing throughout December to understand the season and warm, fuzzy, happy feelings and experiences go together like, well, Christmas sugar cookies and sprinkles.
But for many facing the season without a loved one, the holidays are anything but warm, fuzzy, happy feelings and experiences.
Rather, they are more like the tangled strands of seasonal lights and ornament hooks that can be so frustrating to straighten, and the season of celebrating is anything but celebratory for them. It’s often said there are “steps” to grief, but literature associated with a local faith-based grief support group eschews that description, instead saying it is a “tangled ball of emotion.”
GriefShare is a 13-week program of “help and encouragement” for those who have experienced a death and includes a video featuring an array of speakers and a workbook, Your Journey from Mourning to Joy. The program is offered twice a year at the West Liberty United Methodist Church with facilitators Gene Farley and Susan King. Each program is self-contained and participants are welcome to attend in any sequence.
“Everyone experiences it differently,” said Farley. “Everyone is unique.” She has been involved in three years’ worth of the non-denominational programs and praises what it offers and has seen its benefits.
“We always make it clear this is your time to say what you want,” she said, noting that some losses are fresh, and some are decades old.
Read complete story in Saturday’s Examiner.
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