I lost my husband at the end of Jan 2024.
He was 64. He went out for a training run, which he did 3 times a week and didn’t come back. I rang the police and reported him missing. He had been found and taken to hospital. He had suffered a cardiac arrest and although stenting was successful, the brain damage due to lack of oxygen was severe. 4 days later we switched off the life support. Two weeks prior to this, our elder daughter had told us she was pregnant with our first grandchild.
I have no family nearby and have coped with amazing support from friends.
The first year was counting the days and the anniversaries and I got through.
This second year has been almost more challenging and as I approach the 18 month mark I am finding it is becoming almost more difficult to imagine the rest of my life without him and despite some happy times, especially with my beautiful granddaughter, I find I am missing him more than ever. I try to embrace my oscillating emotions as best I can but it’s so very hard at times. My heart goes out to you all in the same place. We just have to hang on in there and accept what had happened and try and embrace with gratitude the life we have. Our lost ones would want us to carry on and remember them with love.
Your post really touched me and I am so sorry for your loss
It reminded me of my own experiences
I lost my husband in 2023 We had been together since the 1960s so a long time Since he died I have fought hard to live well without him
I ve found concentrating on issues totally outside myself has really helped
accept and cope with my loss to
There is nothing I can do to bring my lovely husband back but I can do everything to try and prevent the unnecessary deaths of others
We can do this in so many ways and it is so beneficial not only to those you are helping but to yourself
Blessings thank you again
I am so sorry for your loss. I am so sorry your husband died. I know. Mine did too.
What you are feeling is normal. You just wish he were here to enjoy the baby and miss him all the more because of the baby magic. But, he’s there. He is alive in the baby and your daughter and he sees what is going on. Don’t you feel him sometimes, hovering about?
This widowhood isn’t easy. Nothing prepares us for it. Grief like no other. Just cry your eyes out. It happens to us all. It comes in waves and circles - never a straight line. This, too, shall pass. Until the next time. We will not escape it. So, expect it.
I’ve become quite pragmatic about it all. A hostile acceptance of reality.
We learn to live with the loss.
I am so sorry for everyone in same situation as me grief is hard , i lost my husband April 18th 2024 18 months ago sometimes i feel im coping just … then this week i had my second session of bereavement counciling and im inconsolable all week 
, i need to find myself but i dont know where to start , i have good family but i cant keep crying when i see them as they’re grieving too for their Dad 
we were together for 52yrs married 48yrs. He was my world and i loved him and my family . I am looking after myself taking our dog out walking every day but my anxiety is through the roof , i am going to my sister in Australia for Christmas and travelling on my own for the first time which is daunting but i have to do it for my husband. We used to travel a lot .
Creating a new life is hard. Living in the loss of our world is hard. It is exhausting to always feel anxiety, confusion, stress and like a zombie. This is the part no one talks about - we are tired all the time now.
My husband died a year ago. I haven’t resumed a normal life. It may look okay from the outside, but inside I am a wreck. I keep going.
I just returned from my first trip without my husband being here. I cried on the flight home, but I did it. I am glad I went and know I can do it again.
There is so much on my plate it seems. Of course, we now do what it once took 2 people to do. Things fall by the wayside. It’s another thing we have to learn to live with and to exercise patience and priority.
My husband’s funeral was on my birthday. I just had another and spent it alone, my 70th - all alone. Like I am invisible or don’t exist anymore. All the “firsts” have happened and I survived.
Some days, it is an hour by hour life. I have good days and am always grateful for the life I had and the life I have.
We will be okay. We are okay. We are just going through the very normal grieving process and it takes its toll on us mentally, physically and sometimes, spiritually. But, we must force ourselves to form a new way. Nothing is the same and never will be again.
Create the life you want. You are the only one that can do it.
Love to all. We’ve got this.
I am approaching the 18 month mark too. Feeling very blue and trying to get all the support I can get. I literally went mad with grief, was sectioned and diagnosed with psychosis. I can’t drive for another 2 months. Have no family and no local friends. All of my friends live far away and have been very supportive . Am getting lots of support from NHS mental health services. I was discharged 5 weeks ago and am at home. Feeling very blue and determined to get through the depression that arose after the psychosis.
Im sorry for your loss , im 75 end of the month my second birthday without my husband. Your post resignates with me ive been away a couple of times now with my daughters Amsterdam with one then Australia with my other in Australia i did take a short flight on my own to stay with my sister so yes , i did it , i did have urosepsis and was in icu in cairns hospital i had to stay on for an extra month until i was well enough to fly my daughter was with me she had to work from Australia she worksremotely anyway but she’d start at 4 pm until early hrs in the morning i am so pleased she was with and grateful to still be here . So yes im staying with my siter for Christmas and flying on my own .