Terre Pruitt's Blog

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Posts Tagged ‘grief’

Grief Buzz

Posted by terrepruitt on January 29, 2015

Sometimes I just can’t figure it out.  I do know that when my body is fighting off something (a cold, a virus, or the sickness that is going around) I get grumpy.  I don’t get sick, but I get grumpy and I don’t know why.  It is probably because I am feeling less than 100%, but not sick.  My hubby and I have not actually been sick since last January.  Where we got something from the family at the Holiday dinner and it took us down for days.  Me – for one and half to be exact.  I just went to bed.  My hubby took longer to get better because he didn’t just go to bed.  He — like most people have to work.  I was lucky enough that it hit me Thursday after my class and I didn’t have a class on Friday so I slept all day.  I remember it well because I have never just slept like that.  I remember I got up once to make dinner and eat, but then I was back in bed.  I wanted to get rid of it.  Sometimes there are things going on that I allow myself to stress out about.  Like when I am learning a new routine.  I’ve told you that before.  But usually after teaching it for the first time the sense of “nervousness” goes away.  Could be that I messed up bad yesterday and forgot to do something I told someone I would do.  Never have done that before.  Don’t want to do it again.  I do know that is really bothering me.  But it could also be that thing I am trying to not let bother me.  I don’t THINK it is bothering me . . . but I feel odd . . . so it COULD be bothering me.  So like I said, sometimes I just can’t figure it out.  Is my body working really hard to keep from getting sick?  Am I so mad at myself for being forgetful that I can’t forgive myself and have this icky feeling inside?  Or is it that THING I am not thinking about?  And in not thinking about it, I am thinking about it.  I do think that sometimes grief has this “buzz” about it.  It might not be there all big and hairy making you cry and wail, but it is there.  It makes you edgy.  Sometimes even a little jumpy.  And it is not so much that I am not thinking about it, it is more that I was going to try not to mention it.  But . . . . I think, trying not to mention it and trying to just let it be “not a big deal” is in fact making it a big deal.  Grrrr!  So . . . not to make a big deal out of it, but to see if putting it out there helps relieve this tightness (almost like heartburn) in my chest and throat I will no longer ignore the THING.  Today is my mom’s birthday.

She and I are twenty years apart.  She would have been 67.  I had hoped I would have her around until she was in her 80s, but that didn’t happen.

I had thought that my dad and niece and I would get together and do something for my mom’s birthday, but we decided not to.  I never know if my dad is just trying to be brave or if he really thinks he is ok.  I also had secured tickets to an event this weekend so that had me believing my dad and letting him be.  He had a lot of projects he is doing.  “Keeping busy” as he says.

So really, I wasn’t going to say anything, but like, I said, there is something . . . . I can’t figure it out.  So I was thinking NOT SAYING ANYTHING, might be it.  Because otherwise I am excited.  I have a new Nia class.  I mentioned in a recent post that I was going to filling in for someone.  Turns out the “filling in” is going to be a permanent situation.  Remembering, of course, that “permanent” is still a flexible term.  I have to make sure the number of attendees in the other classes don’t go down.  A thought I had had, was, having Nia three times a week, might keep people from coming to the other two classes.  But today we had a record breaker.  So, we will see.

There are also a few other good things going on.  Perhaps they are good, but causing some stress?  I don’t know.  Like I said, sometimes I just can’t figure it out.  All I can figure out is that there is SOMETHING and I don’t like it.  So I am doing things, trying this and trying that to see what works.

What do you think?  Do you agree with the idea that grief can just hang out and make you edgy?  Do you think sometimes it is like that annoying thing you can’t put your finger on?  Do you understand it is not always tears and big time sorrow?  Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose,  Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo

Posted in Diane Bacho | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Grief Is a Very Personal Thing

Posted by terrepruitt on November 1, 2011

So how do you handle grief?  Pub med says, “Grief is a reaction to a major loss.”  But then it says, “It is most often an unhappy and painful emotion.”  Wiki states, “While the terms are often used interchangeably, bereavement refers to the state of loss, and grief is the reaction to loss.” I guess they mean grief is an EMOTIONAL reaction to a major loss.  In relation to death, I believe that everyone grieves in their own way.  You have probably heard about the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  I believe that these are emotions or feelings that people might go through when they are grieving.  And just because someone identified these stages doesn’t mean everyone goes through each stage.  If people do experience them they might not even be in this stated order.  These were just created to help people understand, to cope, and to connect, knowing that you aren’t the only one who felt angry or were in a state of denial.  Most important grief is very personal.

We all handle grief differently.  We all handle our emotions differently.  I believe that people can feel whatever they feel.  We don’t always have control over what we feel.  Emotions sometimes just pop up.  Sometimes they might even surprise us if we look at them.  Feelings are what they are.  I think it is healthy to let yourself feel whatever comes up.  I don’t think emotions should be pushed aside or ignored.  I don’t think they should be stifled.  Emotions just happen.

Nia Teacher, Oct. 23, 2011, Nia classI do believe that our reaction to our own emotions or the action we take while experiencing feelings might need to be regulated or contained.  For instance if you are grieving and angry it does not help the situation to lash out at those around you.  Others are sad too, and maybe they are angry too, but allowing all that anger to come out in harsh words and temper tantrums does no good at all.  When one is mean because they are angry at the situation, it does more harm than good.  I can understand someone feeling so much pain the first reaction might be to lash out, but for most people saying mean words and forming hurtful sentences is not a habit so in order to be so unkind it takes more effort than just a spur of the moment reaction.  Continuing to be cruel is something I deem unacceptable.

I also believe that as long as you are not harming anyone or causing harm to yourself you should be allowed to grieve in your own way for as long as you need to.  If I were to not get dressed and do nothing for two weeks, I wouldn’t really be harming anyone.  My circumstances would allow me to check out for a couple of weeks.  As long as it didn’t last too long it could be good for me.  But if I were in a situation where I was a caregiver, let’s say I had kids, it would not be acceptable for me to do nothing for two weeks.  Doing nothing for two weeks would cause harm to the children.  So how you act because of the grief really depends on the situation, but since it is so personal it is not easy to say that one’s way of acting is wrong.

I also think that there really is no time limit on sadness.  I think the sorrow will last forever.  I think there are moments of sadness.  But I also think that there is joy, it is ok to be happy.  It is ok to go on living.  I think it is even ok to recall the deceased with happiness.  I always marvel at instances where people’s behavior is deemed unacceptable.  Again, if they are not causing harm, then they should be able to deal with their grief in their own way.   I think it is healthy to allow yourself time and what you need in order to cope.  There are definitely as many ways to deal with loss as there are people. Grief and the way one works through it is a very personal thing.

Posted in Just stuff, Misc | Tagged: , , , , | 6 Comments »