This is what grieving during the coronavirus looks like

Grief is already a profoundly lonely and isolating experience. Social distancing and stay home orders are making it exponentially harder. Even though it might sound counterintuitive, talking about how hard all of this is, helps.

A new article on Hello Giggles examines how the experience of grief has changed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

From the article:

“Loneliness and isolation are a giant cause of suffering for grieving people,” explains Megan Devine, a psychotherapist and author specializing in grief and loss. “And community is our best chance for survival when things go sideways.”

Right now, a sense of community is difficult to come by, and loneliness and isolation are steadily increasing alongside the country’s death toll. As of April 30th, more than 61,000 Americans have died from coronavirus, a virus strain reportedly 10 times deadlier than the seasonal flu. The loss of life is staggering, but, of course, it does not include the number of people who die every day from unrelated causes, like cancer or overdoses. With so many deaths and major cities inundated with the sound of ambulance sirens, it’s difficult not to exist in a perpetual state of mourning. But, due to safety protocols and social-distancing practices meant to help mitigate the virus’s spread, expressing that grief has turned out to be much more complicated than in the past.

“One of the things that’s really tricky about this time, during this pandemic and isolation, is that even in the best-case scenario, we’re missing touch and normalcy,” says Devine. Losing someone while we’re grieving the loss of that normalcy “reorders the world” again, she adds, “so we’re adding instability on top of instability.”

Read the entire article at Hello Giggles.

How about you? What ways have you found to connect with people during the pandemic?

Now, as always, the very best place I know to connect YOU with other grieving folks is inside the Writing Your Grief community. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, there is always someone there: when you feel invisible inside your grief, these folks see you. When your friends have their own sh*t to deal with and you can’t lean on them, your WYG family is there. I mean it folks, this community is unlike any other place – online or IRL. Registration for the June session is open now and we’ve got room for you. Follow this link to join us, and pass it on.