On Grief and Writing
It’s been a rough few months.
My dad passed away from cancer about 1.5 weeks ago.
I haven’t been writing as much for the past few months in general. That’s because I’ve been going through what is called anticipatory grief for months. My dad was diagnosed in the late stages of cancer so we have literally been watching him battle this illness, and ultimately losing that battle. We watched him go from a strong provider, a man that was always strong and active, to basically becoming a shell of himself. This prolonged grief felt like agony for me and my family.
He passed away peacefully, surrounded by family. While we were relieved that he was out of pain and no longer suffering, we knew then that the real grief would hit. That’s where I’ve been at. The grief has made it hard to function in general, including writing.
I know that at difficult times, many times people find solace in writing through the grief, or through tough times in general. Those same people tend to also find talking through their grief to be helpful. But I am not one of those people.
Maybe it’s because of my mental illness, maybe it comes down to personality, but I have to handle things differently. I tend to need to shut down for a bit, and deal with things in my head, during the beginning at least. Once…