- Introduction
- Understanding Grief
- People Grieve Differently
- The Brain Fog of Grief
- The Vocabulary of Grief
- Grievers Don’t Need to be Fixed
- Misconceptions About Grief
- There Are No Orderly and Predictable Stages In Grief
- When Caring People Say Dumb Things When You’re Grieving
- What to Say to Others When You’re Grieving
- The Impact of Who you Lost and How you Lost Them
- Heavy Grief Days
- The Grief Letter
- Ways to Remember Them
- Permissions for Grievers
- Creating Bright Spots in the Midst of Grief
- Why Are Many Grievers Not Comfortable Crying In Front of Others?
- Why Grievers Don’t Need to Be Strong
- Do I Just Need Time to Heal From Grief?
- Why Do Grieving People Get the Message They Shouldn’t Be Sad?
- Is Staying Busy Good for Grief?
- The Isolation of Grief
- Can You Fill the Void Left by the Death of Loved One?
- How Long Does the Pain of Grief Last?
- How Do You Get Over Grief?
- I Don’t Want to Forget My Loved One Who Died
- Relationships Change After Loss
- Why Don’t Friends and Family Understand Your Grief?
- How to Tell Others What You Need in Your Grief
- Grief Can Cause You to Re-evaluate Relationships
- I Lost My Spouse and My Friends
- All the Phases in the Grief Journey
- I’m Grieving and Just Barely Surviving
- Why Do I Feel Like I Am Just Existing in My Grief?
- When Will I Be Ready for Grief Counseling?
- Can You Heal Your Grief?
- Living Again After Losing a Loved One
- How Grief Affects Mental Health
- Grief & Depression
- How Trauma Affects Your Grief
- Co-Dependency and Grief
- Should I take medication for my grief?
- The Uniqueness of Grieving A Suicide
- Suicide Shock: I Can’t Believe They Did It
- Feeling Blame and Shame After a Suicide
- The Abandonment of Suicide
- The Stigma of Suicide
- Interview with widow who lost two husbands by suicide
- Losing Your Husband to Suicide
- What To Do With Your Loved One’s Belongings After They Die
- No Cost Financial Coaching & Planning for Widows: Chris Bentley
- Hope When Shattered By Grief
- Answers to Your Questions About Grief
- Introduction
- Is Being Angry at God a Sin After My Loved One Died?
- Where Did My Peace, Joy and Gratitude Go after I lost my loved one?
- Can Grief and Hope Co-Exist?
- Why Does God Heal Some People But Not Others?
- Is Suicide an Unforgivable Sin?
- Why Do I Dislike Platitudes and Bible Verses?
- Why Did God Let My Loved One Die?
- Surviving The Holidays
- I Lost Myself When My Husband Died
- When Widowed Pain Feels Like Homesickness
- No Cost Financial Coaching & Planning For Widows: Chris Bentley
- The Best Grief Retreat for Widows
- I Lost My Husband By Suicide. Now What?
- An Interview With A Woman Who Lost Two Husbands By Suicide
- I Lost My Spouse and My Friends
- A Widow’s Guide to the Stages of Grief
- 7 year anniversary of the sudden death of my husband
- The Trauma and Grief of Widows Who Were Caregivers
- The Captive Widow: Navigating Obstacles to Widow Healing
- Understanding the Widow’s Brain
Widow Grief
12 Episodes
All Series
-
Foundations Of Grief
14 Episodes -
Misconceptions About Grief
12 Episodes -
Relationships After Loss
5 Episodes -
Widow Grief
12 Episodes -
The Grief Journey
6 Episodes -
Grief & Mental Health
5 Episodes -
Grieving A Suicide
6 Episodes -
Conversations On Grief
4 Episodes -
Questions Grieving Christians Ask
8 Episodes -
Coping With The Holidays and Other Tough Special Days
1 Episodes
Widow Grief
12 Episodes
Episodes in This Series
-
I Lost Myself When My Husband Died
-
When Widowed Pain Feels Like Homesickness
-
No Cost Financial Coaching & Planning For Widows: Chris Bentley
-
The Best Grief Retreat for Widows
-
I Lost My Husband By Suicide. Now What?
-
An Interview With A Woman Who Lost Two Husbands By Suicide
-
I Lost My Spouse and My Friends
-
A Widow’s Guide to the Stages of Grief
-
7 year anniversary of the sudden death of my husband
-
The Trauma and Grief of Widows Who Were Caregivers
-
The Captive Widow: Navigating Obstacles to Widow Healing
-
Understanding the Widow’s Brain
Episode 1 : I Lost Myself When My Husband Died
I Lost Myself When My Husband Died
Did you feel like you lost yourself when you’re husband died. Like part of you died too? Grieving the loss of a husband may impact a widow similar to the impact of losing a limb. Depending on the closeness and depth of the relationship, losing a spouse is often described as losing a part of oneself. This is not a surprising statement because the relationship between husband and wife is often the most interdependent and intimate connection people experience in their lifetimes.
Ron found one psychological study that compared the psychological impacts on both widows and amputees. They found strong similarities, including parallels in psychological symptoms. Both widows and amputees frequently experience depressive and anxiety symptoms, struggle to accept their losses, and will often prefer to avoid talking and thinking about their loss. Both types of loss are impairing and require very significant life adjustments.
Some widows we’ve worked with describe experiencing physical pain in response to grieving the death of their husbands. This pain is sometimes compared to a person experiencing phantom limb pain at some point following an amputation.
While we don’t work with people following amputations, we have worked with hundreds of people grieving the loss of loved ones. And, we have often heard from widows who attend our retreats, “I feel as though I lost a big part of myself” and/or “I don’t really know who I am anymore. I’ve lost my identity.” Can you relate to any of that?
You may not be comfortable in your skin, feel a lack of identity and lose your confidence. If that’s you, that’s normal my friend. Just as someone who lost a limb has to adjust to life without it, a widow must do the same thing. It is a struggle and challenge to live and adapt to these losses. This can’t be done overnight. This takes time and you are going to fall a lot along the way. Give yourself grace. Please understand the depth of the impact of losing your husband. It is going to take time and healthy grieving steps to eventually heal.
Early on, this loss and pain engulfs you, and it should. You may see your identity as a widow. But, our experience is that a gradual transition from identifying primarily as a widow to seeing yourself as a person who has experienced the loss of her husband seems to have a significant impact on your recovery process. But give yourself time to transition.
When you are ready, if you are stuck or need help and healing, please check out our Next Chapter Widow Retreats. They are like nothing else out there. We’ve been where you are, and we know how to help.