Have you been happily moving through life when horrible news appears?  Perhaps you take time off from work, but you eventually have to go back, don’t you?  How can you manage a personal loss, but do your work? How?

I unfortunately, had some horrible news show up in my life recently.  How, I wondered, can I carry on, do my work and grieve? How can I have human emotions, be a mom to a little toddler, a wife and work?  

First, if you can take time off.  Allow yourself to feel the deep human emotions that are coming up involving your unwanted news.  If you can not take off, do your best at work and know that you have acquired the skill set needed to assist you at this time.  Your work experience will carry you and remain confident that you will be be able to get through this difficult moment with grace.  For me, work was a moment to pause my grief/pain/sadness. Once work is over, go home or to your comfortable safe place and allow yourself time to process what has happened.  In order for you to move forward, it is necessary to feel your emotions fully.  Let them express in you how they want to. Stuffing them away only temporarily suppress them.

Each day you will get stronger.  Now is the time to focus on self-care and compassion. Remain healthy in your eating and sleeping habits, perhaps start a new book that elicits feelings of happiness, make a playlist of uplifting music so when you feel anxiety strike, you will bring a joyful beat into your heart, keep exercising or begin with outdoor walks. Now is not the time to slip away to the dark side, but rather be your best friend who is there to lift you up. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe and ask for help.  Friends and family will gladly assist you in your recovery after trauma/grief/sadness.

I write this from first hand experience.  I have had shocking and dreadful news twice in five months.  I wondered how I could I make it?  However, gratitude and appreciation for a life dominant with joy helped me greatly.  I took it day by day.  I remembered the past was gone and the future has yet to come. Here is where I found strength.  A strangers smile, my son’s laugh, a supportive friend bringing me food, a good cry, a new inspiring book to read before bedtime, no news, a long shower with essential oils, a hard cry, and practicing gratitude showed me the light of a new day and the clouds began to slowly, slowly lift.   You can not control what is happening, but you can control how you respond. This is where your power lays.