My sweet friend Keyana lost her father recently and she wrote this heartfelt post about how it impacted her well being.
"A few days ago, my dad passed away. I was very close to my dad and even though I’ve experienced death in the family this was my first time losing someone I was close to. My dad has been living in a nursing home for a couple years due to his dementia and other health problems so as weird as it is to say this, I knew this day was coming so when I got that phone call it didn’t really hit me yet that he passed even though I knew he did. But when I realized he was really gone I took it pretty hard. So hard that I cried until my head began hurting so bad and my eyes got puffy. Then when I stopped crying, I felt numb. Staring at the tv but not really watching what was on, scrolling through social media but not really looking at what I was scrolling through, and staring at the ceiling. Once I snapped back into reality I would just start crying again.
I ended up losing my appetite as well as experiencing dizziness and dehydration. One thing I don’t like is dizziness, it’s too close to passing out to me, so I knew I had to get myself together. So, I immediately drank some water. But I think the dizziness also came from not sleeping and literally staring at my phone screen for hours trying to figure out what to do. It’s it sad how something like grief can make you sick, and not just physically but mentally as well because I was having depressive thoughts too. And everyone is saying the exact same thing to you... I’m so sorry for your loss... keeping you in my prayers. I never realized how annoying it is to hear that, but hey, what else could you say. It’s a part of life and life goes on.
But experiencing that kind of pain made me realize you have to be stronger than your emotions. Give yourself a day to grieve, of course time heals, and you can’t really grieve in a day. But what I mean is give yourself a day to cry, lay around and do nothing. If you’re able body, continue your daily routine the next day. Go back to work, to school, whatever you do. If you’re disabled and need a caregiver for your daily needs, go out. Go anywhere just get out the house because if you don’t you will stay in bed and cry yourself into depression. That’s literally how I ended up feeling better. I had a dentist appointment that I just couldn’t reschedule. I got up and I decided I didn’t want to cry today. I drank some water and ate strawberries for breakfast. I attempted to put on some makeup it looked terrible but thankfully the sun was shining so I could wear sunglasses. I encountered friendly faces and small talk that made me smile, received good news on my dental treatment, even managed to eat something good considering the soreness from my braces. Also, I want to share laughter is truly indeed medicine."
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