Healthy Ways of Coping

1. Write in a Journal. Writing down the feelings or emotions, gets them out, down on paper and is a way of being able to look at things more objectively.

2. Pound a pillow, your mattress with fists or a tennis racket. 

3. Scream in a pillow, in the shower, in your car, or in the woods.

4. Have a temper tantrum on your bed, mattress or couch (carefully).

5. Go for a long walk or run. Notice how your body is feeling, your breathing, how your legs are moving. Enjoy being out in nature.

6.Twist a towel (or pull between a friend or a large dog)

7. Howl, wail, yell, scream. Laugh, cry, sing. Whatever noise or expression seems to express how you feel. In the words of Elton John, "Sad songs say so much."

8. Laugh uproariously, raucously and with abandon, at least once a day. Laughter is good for the soul.

9. Paint, draw, doodle, scribble, decoupage, create something.

10. Dance, skip, saunter, gallop, hop. Move in whatever way seems to work.

11. Stop suffering. Suffering is an avoidance mechanism, a way of not dealing with feelings and working through the emotions.

12. Do the necessary grief work, in whatever form seems to work best with you.

13. Join a support group, with meetings, or on-line.

14. Look for resources on grief, do not underestimate the helpfulness of books. Visit a local library or bookstore and see what books seem to help. There are grief books written on a variety of topics, from a variety of different perspectives depending on the type of loss.


15. Talk to someone--a friend, family member, counselor, or clergy member, even a pet or stuffed animal