When someone you love is grieving a departed friend, family member, or pet, it’s sometimes hard to know what you can do to support them. Your immediate reaction may be to rush to their home, sit with them, clean their house, and/or cook them a meal, but sometimes your attempts to help will be rebuffed, no matter how well meaning they are. This is because grief is a difficult and tricky process, and sometimes these efforts can feel stifling. So how can you help and support a friend who’s working their way through the grieving process? Here are a few practical things that you can do to help them through.
Get to Know the Grieving Process
If you aren’t already, get familiar with the five stages of grieving. If you know these stages, you can observe your friend’s behavior and understand their responses to you and others. If they’re in the anger stage of grieving, they may lash out and say things that they don’t mean. If you recognize this as a part of the grieving process, you can more easily forgive them and have a more positive reaction that will help them cope rather than make them feel bad for being angry.
Make a Casserole
It’s clichéd, but there’s a reason that people make casseroles for those who are mourning. If you have a friend or another loved one who’s grieving, they’re likely not going to be in the best mental place to plan meals or cook anything complex. If you can make them a simple, healthy dish that they can get several meals out of without anything more than a microwave, you’ll be doing them a huge service.
Don’t Talk – Listen
It’s easy to make things about yourself, to give advice, and to say things like, “When I was…” Refrain from all of these. Instead, when your friend needs to talk, just listen. Give them time to vent when they’re angry, to talk about the happy things when they’re feeling like reminiscing, and to break down when they’re depressed. All of these are perfectly acceptable reactions during the grieving process, and you can do a surprising amount of good just by being there to listen.
Get Them Something Special to Remember Their Loved One
If you want to do something nice for them besides taking care of a few meals or being there with a shoulder to cry on, you may want to consider cremation jewelry. An urn charm or pendant is a beautiful way for them to hold their loved one close to them, and it’s something simple to support them as they make their way through the grieving process.
Johnston’s Cremation Jewelry has a wide selection of quality cremation jewelry in beautiful designs to be worn as pendants or charms, so there’s something perfect for anyone who wants to remember a departed loved one with a piece of delicate and attractive jewelry.