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Living Loss & Chronic Sorrow: Can you grieve someone still alive?
Ive read a lot about living loss and chronic sorrow, where the grief is continuous because the person is still living but continuing to decline and change.
I am a young spousal caregiver. Does anyone else ever feel like that sorrow and disappointment is so intense and fills their whole being? And yet you feel you have to mask your grief because how dare you grieve someone who is still alive. When the relationship turns more carer and patient, than husband and wife, it is an indescribable loss.
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How very very true when aconnection ends and a heart is broken with no warning the feelings re. Appear for however long and so does the hurt and sadness comes from the loss within your heart
Grief is about the loss we feel . Loss can happen even when the person is alive. We can grieve for the life we expected, the relationship we've lost , the pain we feel watching our loved one suffer, the life they wanted etc etc.
There are so many losses in a situation like this. It is a normal reaction to grieve. Sometimes we dont even know exactly the thing we've lost that that we are grieving, but grief is a normal process for humans. Grief sometimes is not relatable to others. It might be helpful for you to have someone who is a safe place for you to talk about these things. That will help you process the Grief you are feeling and build resilience. Resilience helps you to carry on with your caregiving. It could be a patient group, caregiver group, a faith leader you trust, or a Chaplain from the hospital or a professional therapist. Mostly just someone to listen, so you can voice what you feel honestly, without judgment or worrying about how they feel about it .
Please know you are not alone in what you feel . Praying for you.
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