Greetings! I hope all is well with each and everyone of you. Today’s conversation piece will be on the topic of anger. This is something I know all too well in the grief process.
Grief is a complex and deeply personal experience, and it can evoke a wide range of emotions that may sometimes be difficult to navigate. Anger is a normal experience in grief and probably the most common. For many people this emotion can be very overwhelming and scary emotion because it can get out of hand. Fear not, this emotion is necessary in order to get through the grief process. By approaching anger from a place of awareness and without judgement, you can slowly shift the way you experience, understand, and act on that emotion of anger. Let’s take a look at better understanding the emotion of anger.
- The role of anger in grief:
- Expression of pain: Anger can serve as a way to express the deep emotional pain associated with grief. It can be easier to feel anger than to confront the rawness of sadness and loss.
- Sense of injustice: Grief can evoke feelings of unfairness and injustice, especially if the loss was sudden or perceived as untimely. Anger may be directed towards the circumstances surrounding the death or even towards the deceased person for leaving.
- Externalizing emotions: Anger can act as a defense mechanism, allowing individuals to externalize their grief by directing it towards someone or something external rather than facing their own vulnerability and pain. Simply said this can come off as snappy, aggressiveness, short-tempered, etc.
- Internalizing emotions: When people experience grief, they often have strong emotions that they keep inside instead of expressing them outwardly. Grieving individuals may keep their feelings bottled up, not showing them to others. They might do this because they don’t want to burden others or because they find it hard to talk about their emotions. Instead, they keep everything inside and try to deal with it on their own.
Remember, it’s normal to feel anger when grieving and everyone’s experience of grief is unique to them. The expression of anger can vary from person to person. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. What’s important is finding healthy ways to deal with anger. Talking to someone you trust, like a counselor or joining a support group, can help you express and understand your anger. Expressing it through creative activities like drawing, writing, or even coloring can also be helpful. It’s okay to feel angry as long as we learn how to handle it in a positive way.
Thank you all for stopping by and reading. Prayerfully, this information will help you along your grief journey. Until next time take care of yourself.
Respectully,
The Grief Educator