Handling Anniversaries after a Loved One Dies

Providing grief resources is among the cremation services offered in Tallahassee, FL.

Any significant date in the life of a loved one who has died will pose challenges for those of us who are still living for the rest of our lives. It might be a birthday. It might be an engagement anniversary. It might be a wedding anniversary. It might be the date that our loved one died. Any date that is significant is likely to trigger grief.

However, there are ways to help get through these anniversaries that can help alleviate some of the intensity of the grief and channel our thoughts and emotions in positive ways that remember our loved ones.

First things first, though. It may be tempting to just avoid thinking about dates that are significant for our deceased loved one. We may just want to pretend they don’t exist and try to ignore them.

From a grief perspective, this is not a good idea. What happens when we avoid painful things about our loved one’s death – and that includes significant dates for them and us – is that we push the feelings of grief and pain down temporarily, but by doing that we are delaying the healing process that proper grieving will give us.

Whatever we push down will not stay down forever. Eventually, those feelings will come back, often stronger and harder to process and deal with, making our grieving process much more difficult and longer than it needs to be.

So, we should face significant dates for our loved one with a plan of action as to how we’re going to handle and what we’re going to do to remember them.

By planning ahead for these significant dates, we are calm enough to come up with creative ways to remember and honor our loved ones in a meaningful and constructive way that, while we may not realize it, also helps us move forward in our own grieving process.

One way to mark significant dates in our deceased loved one’s life is to invite friends and family over to spend some time with us on those dates. We can make a menu and have everyone bring a favorite dish of our deceased loved one, and we can share a meal and memories that remind us of our loved one together.

Another great way to mark dates that were significant for our deceased loved one is to do something they would have done. Perhaps they volunteered at a nursing home or they volunteered at a local charity. We can spend the significant date volunteering wherever they volunteered as a way to remember and honor them.

Maybe they loved to golf or fish. We could go out to the golf course or go to a river or the ocean and engage in their favorite pastime on a date that was significant to them, because it will remind us of them in a very positive way.

Journaling or blogging is also a great way to remember significant dates for our loved one who has died. We can dedicate the date to them, and then journal or blog about some aspect of their life that we remember, we love, and we miss.

For more information about grief resources and cremation services offered in Tallahassee, FL, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you. You can visit our funeral home at 20 S. Duval St., Quincy, FL 32351, or you can call us today at (850) 627-1111.