Facing Significant Anniversaries After the Death of a Loved One

Flower bouquet from a funeral service

When a loved one passes, it can seem like your entire world is coming to a halt. Although grief is a long process that takes constant work to overcome, significant anniversaries you share with your lost loved one can make the process seem to restart. Here’s how to face these difficult days.

Prepare in Advance

For most people, it’s difficult to forget important dates they share with loved ones such as anniversaries, birthdays, or the day that they passed. Since these dates will likely be on your mind as they approach, take advantage of it by planning in advance. This may mean arranging activities for the anniversary date that will help ease your difficulties. This could also be a good time to spend the day away from your home or where other difficult memories may have taken place, all of which can be addressed with pre-planning.

Create New Memories for the Date

Attempting to overcome your grief by forgetting all about it is often not healthy. However, it can be helpful to create new memories to focus on for dates you associate with the loss of a loved one or the grief you experienced. These new memories may incorporate the loved one’s memory, such as gathering with family members for a dinner or an outing to reflect on their life. Depending on the person, a private day may be better, such as taking a trip on that day every year or taking a day off of work.

Make Room for Various Coping Styles

Everyone deals with grief differently, even within the same family, particularly children. Some may be overwhelmed or frustrated by the grieving styles of others, especially when they are entrenched in grief themselves. As these crucial dates come closer, it’s best to work on recognizing that every different type of grieving style is equally legitimate, so long as it is healthy. Some of your loved ones may want to be social and reflect with others on these anniversaries; others may want to be entirely alone. The entire family of the deceased rarely has the same method of grieving, so it’s important to approach with an open mind and allow each member of the family to address these anniversaries in their own way.

As the anniversaries you share with a recently deceased loved one approach, you likely want to find peace of mind. Funeralocity strives to offer comfort and convenience to all families during their difficult times. Our funeral comparison website helps consumers search for the most appropriate funeral services in their area. Learn more about our services on our website.

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