At some point in our lives, especially as seniors, our best friend may die. When it happens suddenly, with no early warning symptoms, it can be a shock. Many seniors say it can be worse than losing a parent. Your best friend has a shared history with you. Once they are gone, there is no one to take their place from those parts of your past. When you think of time enjoyed together you can no longer pick up the phone and laugh about it. Losing our best friend makes us face our own mortality. Dealing with grief can be a huge struggle.
How do we recover from the grief of losing our best friend?
- Don’t keep your feelings locked inside. Talk to others about your friend, how you felt about them and how they affected your life. Put together a photo album of just the two of you. Spend some time thinking about the good things they brought to your life and how you became a better person because of them.
- Remember to take care of yourself. Don’t let your sadness over the death of your friend become depression. Sometimes it’s good to revisit the past on your own. Go to some of the places you visited together and make new memories. This way you won’t have only sad memories of certain locations or events.
- Keeping busy will help. Take up a new hobby or interest. This doesn’t mean that your friend is no longer in your thoughts. It means that you have to realize life will continue without them. Finding new ways to spend your time can help you to overcome your grief.
There are no quick ways to work through grief. It comes in waves and you will go through stages as time goes by. To read the full article on coping with grief when your best friend dies, click here.
