New Year, New Season
“Each New Year, we have before us a brand new book containing 365 blank pages. Let us fill them with all the forgotten things from last year—the words we forgot to say, the love we forgot to show, and the charity we forgot to offer.”
When it comes to grief, a new year can mean a new season of grief. Facing another year without our loved ones can feel daunting. This is a time for reflection, but it can also be a time for hope. A new year has begun and with it comes new opportunities and new challenges.
You have a new book each year with so many pages to fill with memories and experiences. This is also a chance to rest and recover. Grief can be exhausting and take a toll on your mental and physical health.
Here are some ways you can prepare for this new season with self-care:
Rest
Sleep first and foremost, it is the best form of recovery. You can also take walks and do light exercise. Anything to restore the body.
Ease your mind
Try to give your mental health some focus. It’s not easy to just stop thinking, but you can find other ways to ease the negative thoughts and pain. Music, reading, time with loved ones and being in nature can all be ways to take the mind off the thoughts of our loss.
Enjoy being hopeful
Take pleasure in thinking about the future, new things to come and events or activities you can look forward to. Allow yourself to feel excited.
Spend time with those you love
Friends, family or colleagues. Be around others and enjoy the energy and change in attitude they can offer. Even for short periods of time, this can help.
Be present
Take each day as it comes. Last year is now complete, and the new year has only just begun. Enjoy each day as it comes and try to stay in the present moment.
Grief is never easy and entering a new season can be challenging but these steps can help turn a new page and continue moving forward.
At Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, we offer many ways to support our community through their loss and grief, including the Centre for Care & Wellbeing. We cannot profess to ease the grieving process as this is each person’s own journey, but we are here for people when they need us most.
The Centre for Care & Wellbeing offers companionship following the death of a loved one and assists people throughout their journey of grief, loss and mourning.
If you feel that you need some additional support as we enter the new year, come and visit us at the centre in January.