Lockdown Grief

Since march 2020 the world became a very different place that we were used to and due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the grief community got a whole lot bigger.

For me Lockdown really gave the time alone to sit with my feelings and face them all, everything came rushing back to me and I just had to head it face on and deal with it. So please if you are struggling during this lockdown please reach out. I have been there and I can’t bring them back but I can be a shoulder to cry on or an inbox to talk to. So this post is really about why grief is heightened within lockdowns and what we can do to look after ourselves.

Why has our feelings of grief been heightened since the pandemic started?

COVID-19 brought death and a reminder of grief and loss to the forefront of our lives. Multiple time a day, constant news stories on the tv, radio and internet were constant death figures. Over the last year there really has felt like there is no escape and I know I am not alone in this feeling.

When grieving you can feel very isolated and alone with your feelings, you can be in a room full of supportive people but feel like no one understands how you’re feeling. Being in isolation/lockdown makes all them emotions more apparent and can bring back feelings that you have felt as the years have gone on. I personally found lockdown 1.0 the hardest as I was living alone so it brought back all of them feeling id felt years ago of being isolated and lonely in my thoughts.

The pandemic can bring a great feeling of anxiety and grief anxiety becomes more frequent with the news covering numbers of deaths each day. I have suffered a great amount of anxiety since losing my mum and every time someone is sick or doesn’t answer their phone, I always think the worst is going to happen. So, you have lost someone or you have a family member that is dying the thought of them or another family member catching COVID-19 is a very scary and anxious feeling.

What you can do to look after your self during this lockdown

1. Put your feelings to paper – My biggest advice to anyone that feels overwhelmed by there grief throughout this time or whenever in life is to grab a journal and write down how your feeling, honestly there’s comfort in getting you thoughts onto paper kind of like a brain dump. No one needs to read this journal it can just be a private thing to keep to yourself. If you’re not a big writing maybe try and draw how you’re feeling or paint your emotions onto a picture. Lockdown 1.0 made me realise how important sharing my story was so others did not feel alone and that is when the Girl with Grief blog was born.
2. Be aware and in control of the news your consuming – Whether this be from the TV or social media make sure you’re limiting the amount you consume; it can feel very over whelming and do know good for your mental health and anxiety that can accompany grief.
3. Stay in touch with friends and family – Lockdown can make us feel very isolated and being isolated can really make your mind go into overdrive so make sure you’re staying in contact with friends and family, facetime them, arrange zoom’s or if you feel you can talk to them my DM’s/Email is always open!!
4. Get out in the fresh air – For me personally there is nothing better than getting out for a long walk in the fresh air, put a podcast on (there is a lot of great grief ones out there so you won’t feel alone) and just breath, take time to yourself. Being out in the fresh air on a long walk or by the coast always makes me feel closer to my mum. You may think that’s a little weird but I don’t know just walking and thinking brings me comfort that my mums still with me.

Learning to cope with grief is a difficult journey we all go on and we all do this in completely different ways, everyone’s grief is unique so feel all them feelings and do whatever you can to help yourself. Grief is a lot harder during a global pandemic and whether you were in this community before or since the pandemic started please remember to look after yourself, your mental health and physical health.

Lots of Love the Girl with Grief xx