Redefining Your Life After The Loss Of A Spouse
By Ellen Gerst
The inconceivable has occurred – your partner has died. Perhaps, it was sudden and unexpected. However, even if it took place after an illness or at an older age, your loss surely came too prematurely from your point of view.
Your life is now changed forever. Consequently, you may feel that you have also lost your purpose and, certainly, you’re confused about what role you should play in the world going forward. For example, you’re no longer a wife or a husband, but you sure feel like one. Through your fog of grief, it can be nearly impossible to envision a life without your partner by your side.
The redefining (and the subsequent need to reconfigure) your life after loss is one of the more overwhelming aspects of losing a spouse. As part of the grief process, it’s necessary to accept that your life will never return to the way it was before your loss. Correspondingly, YOU also will not return completely to the way you were during your partnership.
So comes the question: “What do I do now?” compounded by the inevitable one of: “Who am I now?”
While you may have to figure out “what to do” rather quickly, figuring out the “who you are now” is usually a slow process. Often, it starts to happen naturally vs. from any deliberate actions you take. Matter of fact, the experience of more loss (for example, old friends who reject you) may simply be nature’s way of pushing you towards a better place and towards a more empathetic community of friends.
1. Consequently, you may find that the dynamics of old time friendships begin to shift. Couple friends seem to fall by the wayside – many because they feel uncomfortable with you and others because you feel you have less in common and, thus, feel uncomfortable with them.
2. If you were widowed young, you may have friends who are in the midst of celebratory stages, such as getting engaged, married, having children, etc. In contrast, you’re embarking upon a stage which neither you nor your peers expected to reach for a very long time. Even though you’re happy for your friends, it may still be hard for you to participate in all these joyous celebrations. And if you do participate and put on a happy face, this further goes towards you feeling a sense of alienation from them.
3. This next point is pretty sad; some of your friends may find that confronting your reality makes them feel emotionally uneasy. Thus, they may choose to spend less time with you. In this scenario, it’s not about you; it’s all about them and their feelings. And, of course, there are also those who simply don’t know what to do or say, so they just disappear without a word.
Beyond your relationships, you might also notice that you want to change other facets of your life. For example, you may find it difficult to concentrate at work, or you may no longer feel fulfilled by your job.
Here are some things you might want to consider:
1. When it comes to your career, you may decide you want to do something more meaningful. For example, you may want to make it your life’s purpose to support the disease (and work towards a cure) from which your spouse died.
2. You may want to further involve yourself with certain hobbies and make it a career. On the other hand, things in which you once found joy may no longer interest you or you may not have patience for them.
3. You may want to support a cause of your late partner’s in order to carry on his/her legacy.
4. If you neglected your health while caring for a late partner, you may want to start to focus on your physicality. Pushing your limits, you may contemplate participating in feats you never thought possible – for example, running a marathon, rock climbing or bicycle racing. Due to the mind/body wellness connection, the building of your physical muscles will help to strengthen your emotional muscles too.
Here’s the bottom line – grieving is hard, and the inevitable changes that come packaged with your initial loss make it even harder to bear.
Keep in mind that change is not a dirty word! It stretches you and makes you more awake to life because you’re now paying close attention to what is happening in front of you. These changes will occur in different ways. Some may be deliberate, some unintentional, some slow to happen and others overnight, some undesirable, and some exciting and yearned for. All of them together will help you to gain clarity on the “new you.”
Unfortunately, you were not given a choice to take this journey. Your power lies in how well you’re able to embrace it, which will allow you to reap all the benefits available to you. As with every endeavor you undertake, your success will be based on your attitude and perspective.
I love what Richard Bach wrote: “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” How will you choose to look at your world – as a caterpillar or a butterfly?
Ellen Gerst Ellen Gerst is a Life Coach who specializes in grief and relationships, an author, and speaker. Widowed young at the age of 39, she writes from a “been there/done that” perspective. Losing her husband to suicide after 20 years of marriage set her on a path to finding her true self and the inner strength she possessed. She shares both her journey and her perspective on how to move gracefully and successfully through the grief journey. She is the author of “Suddenly Single," which is a compendium of articles covering the practical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the grief journey. She went on to capture the continuation of her story in the sequel to "Suddenly Single," aptly named: “Love After Loss: Writing The Rest of Your Story.” “Love After Loss” is a blueprint on how one can find new love after the loss of a partner from death, divorce, or break-up. It includes coaching exercises; how to Internet date; and how to have a healthy and successful relationship – all intertwined with true life
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