Very few people have experienced the unprecedented health crisis our country is fighting. I say very few because below is a story of a 101 year old man who survived the Spanish Flu, World War 2 and beat COVID-19. Of course he is a very rare case. No doubt if you're reading this newsletter you have experienced several emotions since the Corona Virus became a reality: shock, fear, denial, anger, sadness, and disappointment to name a few. To complicate these feelings, we are required to social distance, thus creating a void in our lives with the people we process feelings with in a normal season. We feel you.
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n the midst of our own feelings, an article was published by the Harvard Business Review that spoke to what our team at Aging Gracefully is experiencing. In an interview with David Kessler, the world's foremost expert on grief, they shine light and put into words what we are feeling. Moreover, it gives us HOPE. We cannot recommend this article enough. PLEASE, READ THIS ARTICLE. Here are a few snippets we felt were powerful and helpful:
"We feel the world has changed, and it has. We know this is temporary, but it doesn’t feel that way, and we realize things will be different. The loss of normalcy; the fear of economic toll; the loss of connection. This is hitting us and we’re grieving. Collectively. We are not used to this kind of collective grief in the air." "Anticipatory grief is the mind going to the future and imagining the worst. To calm yourself, you want to come into the present." "Acceptance, as you might imagine, is where the power lies. We find control in acceptance. I can wash my hands. I can keep a safe distance. I can learn how to work virtually". "This is a temporary state. It helps to say it. I worked for 10 years in the hospital system. I’ve been trained for situations like this. I’ve also studied the 1918 flu pandemic. The precautions we’re taking are the right ones. History tells us that. This is survivable. We will survive. This is a time to overprotect but not overreact."
"The truth is a feeling that moves through us. We feel it and it goes and then we go to the next feeling. There’s no gang out to get us. It’s absurd to think we shouldn’t feel grief right now. Let yourself feel the grief and keep going."
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