Grief.
It is a complicated beast.
Recently, I lost my mother. It was a relatively sudden thing- definitely a different time than we expected. I am grateful that I was able to spend some time with her in the past couple months, on two separate trips, each with one of my daughters in tow. I am grateful that they were also able to spend time with her and hopefully remember her as they also learned about grief and loss and death.
Death and the loss we experience is never talked about, despite it being inevitable. Despite the majority of us humans having to experience it one way or another at some point in our lives. The process in which we go through is so deeply personal yet strangely the same as many others who have experienced their own loss before us.
We don’t talk about it. We don’t acknowledge it. We passively sit by and say our condolences but never really dive into supporting one another in such a loss. It is rare to have a good community, or even just one lone person, to regularly connect with and grieve with.
One thing I noticed for myself is that the physical symptoms that I experienced after my mother’s passing was INTENSE. Even as a therapist, I never expected such intensity with the somatic. I have experienced vomiting, upset stomach, flu-like symptoms, headaches, heart palpitations, anxiety and extreme fatigue. Now that I am approaching close to 2 weeks since her passing, I am feeling a reducing in SOME of the symptoms. It ebbs and flows, as so the emotions that sometimes seem so separate.
I can tell you that ALLLLLL the oils have certainly helped me in this emotional time. Creating a blend of emotional oils, such as trauma life and joy, gratitude and kunzea, among others, have supported my system in this time. I notice a decrease of symptoms shortly after application. The calm is greater after breathing in all the sweet smells. My heart is less achy- emotionally. I don’t always know all the science behind these amazing molecules that make up these plant-based oils but I am grateful for them. The daily use has helped me feel like a functioning adult, as I manage to still find time and ways to parent my children and go to work and attempt to handle all the additional tasks that have been recently thrust at me.
I love my “magic in a bottle” that seems to be keeping me sane both emotionally and physically these days.
What has been your favorite way to handle emotional and somatic stress???
