The Holidays, Grief and Loss.

 

This Christmas season has seen a lot of loss for many in our community. These losses are felt to our soul and shake us to our core. They test our resilience, and they put our mortality in plain site. We lost an amazing person in our local and provincial EMS system and I know he touched the hearts and lives of people outside of Alberta as well. 

I want to speak to all of you that are suffering in this loss, take the time you need to grieve your own way. Don't let duty, or obligation cloud the grieving process. It is ok to feel anger, and sadness, and it is ok to have disbelief. I worry for so many of you that have been worked to death through this pandemic and are now facing grief and loss during the holiday season. Be gentle with yourself and let your feelings happen. Reach out to close friends, and mutual friends so that you can share in his memories and the joy he brought to us all. Check in with each other, not everyone grieves out loud and some people may be really struggling and it is important that they know they are not alone. As the Christmas season ends and we head toward the new year, let's make a pledge to one another to always be kind to each other. The system is and has been broken for a long time. We can only control what we can control and at the moment that is our behaviors towards each other. 

Those of you that I work with, if you need anything in this time, please reach out and we can talk or chill or what ever you might need. Those of you that maybe suffering other losses, even though we may be strangers, reach out if you need an ear. This is a short post today, but needed to address the loss we are all feeling this season. I have not mentioned names on purpose as I know all of you know who I am speaking of and his families privacy is important to me. 

Take care of yourselves and check in with each other, I will see you all again after the New Year with more musings.