Mourning is never easy. You may have been there yourself in the past. You know that grief is hard, whether you have felt it recently or not. Professionals at funeral homes in Middleton, WI are there to help people meet the needs of their loved ones who have passed on. They are also there to support people who are trying to stand behind someone who is grieving. Here are a few things you might want to do in order to help that friend of yours.
Grief is something that is almost impossible to understand. One thing you can do to understand it is recognize that each and every person’s grief is unique and different. What your friend is going through is different than what you went through in the past, or even what another family member of theirs is going through—even if they lost the same person. Understanding that the grief is different will help you to look at what your friend is going through and treat them accordingly, depending on what they are feeling in that moment.
There are five stages of grief, and while it can help to know what they are, those stages aren’t the be all and end all. Not everyone is going to walk through each stage and there isn’t a certain pace to take, either. Your friend might get stuck in one stage for a while and then skip right over another. They might move back and forth between two stages a few times as well. Understanding what the stages are can help you perhaps identify where your friend is, even though you can’t predict where they will go next or how long they will be in that certain stage.
The biggest thing you can do for your friend is to just be there to listen to them. They might want a break from their grief and on the days they see you, perhaps they talk about their pet, their kids, or the weather—let them. They might want to vent their emotions at time, and during those times, listening and letting them get it all out can be the best thing for them. Don’t try to fix things—you can’t—just be there to listen.
While your friend mourns, they might let certain daily things in their life slip. You might be able to step in and help with household chores and errands, which can help take pressure off of them. You can clean their bathrooms, prepare the guestroom for family, walk the dog, get groceries, and anything else you see that needs to get done.
Your friend might need extra support that you and their family members can’t provide. Give them grief resources, possibly from the funeral homes in Middleton, WI and they can decide if they want a grief counselor, to visit a support group, or something else of that nature.