Hello everyone; thank you for the support that you give and receive here. We’ve just written a blog about how to start a grief journal, and I wanted to share it with you in case you found it helpful:
The blog post explains how grief journaling can help us to make sense of our emotions, and give us a space to express our feelings and reflect.
Everyone has different experiences and ways of coping with grief, so journaling might not be for you, and that’s okay.
If you already have a journal and wanted to share anything about how it helps (or even how it doesn’t), then please do feel free to here.
I started a journal about 4 months after my husband died, I don’t think I was ready until then.
I started off by using a CBT book on grief and followed the exercises throughout the book.
They covered areas, my story, grief’s hold, permission to grieve, regaining control, maintaining a connection, year of first and your new path.
It gave me tools to use, and one exercise, that struck me, was to write your name and address with you non dominant hand, then with your normal hand. Finding how strange and awkward it felt writing with the wrong hand, even with lots of practice it would improve but wouldn’t be the same as it was before.
The purpose was to help you understand why losing someone makes you feel the way you do, awkward and unfamiliar. Probably haven’t explained it well.
The book helped me to understand more about the way I was feeling, and I wrote everything in a journal.
I still journal now 16 months on, mainly I write letters to Doug. I write about everything, the way I am feeling, missing him, about our family even the latest gossip and what’s happening in the street where we live. I always read it out loud to his photo when I have finished, sometimes there are lots of tears, sometimes I laugh and smile.
I also keep a daily diary, it’s definitely helped me, and I often look back and read the early entries. Even if it didn’t feel it at time, I can see that I have moved forward in my grief journey, and I have taken Doug with me every inch of the way.
Debbie x
Thanks for sharing that, @Debbie57 - it sounds like journaling has been really valuable to you. I’m glad that you can look back and realise that you’ve moved forward - and it’s lovely how you express that you’ve carried Doug with you on the way.