PROMOTION
Losing a loved one is never easy, you will experience emotions you’ve never felt before and grief may look like sadness, tears, or even anger and frustration. In order to make the grieving process less stressful, it’s a good idea to ensure you are prepared for the loss of a loved one. Whilst this is a topic we all tend to shy away from, hiding it won’t make it go away and it certainly will not make life any easier for you. There are a few steps to take in order to ensure you are prepared for when the worst happens.
Arrange a Will
It’s best to make a will early on in life, as life itself can be extremely unpredictable and you never know what’s around the corner. It’s also important that your will is made whilst you’re in good health, and it can always be rewritten later on if you change your mind or need to add something to it. Having a will in place makes life much easier when your loved one passes on, as there will be less financial decisions to make and it will also fast-track the process of dividing up any assets or estate.
With the spread of coronavirus, you might be restricted to see a lawyer personally. It’s a good thing that you can try creating an online will to help a critically-ill loved one draft their last will and testament. Your loved one can make a will online in as little as ten minutes, so don’t delay.
Spend Time with Your Loved One
Although you may find it hard, if your loved one has been diagnosed with a terminal illness it’s important to make the most of your remaining time together. Reminisce on your favourite memories, dig out of the old photo albums, talk to each other, create new memories together and don’t forget to say I love you. Don’t hold back from your emotions and feel that you need to put on a brave face, tell them how you feel, as you might not get a second chance to.
Take Care of Yourself
When dealing with sorrow and grief, it’s important that you still practice self-care despite the overwhelming rush of emotions and sadness you will be feeling. Eat wholesome meals, take walks, communicate with close ones and try to relax. It’s important that you don’t feel guilty for taking care of yourself, your physical and mental health is important and it’s vital to maintain it. Try not to hide away, as this could cause a negative impact on your emotional health.
Plan the Funeral
Planning a funeral can be an emotional time, but there are people out there who can help with this process so don’t be afraid to seek it. If your loved one is terminally ill, you may decide to start putting together plans for when the worst happens. As morbid as it sounds, this will make the process easier and enable you to grieve instead of researching the cost of a funeral. Speak to a funeral planner and discuss the options available and which packages will best suit your needs. In this case, it’s better to face this head on rather than ignore it, as it will only cause you more stress in the long run.
Prepare Your Family
While you might have accepted the fate of your loved one, it may not be easy for other family members to let someone go. That’s why proper preparation is crucial, most especially when dealing with children because they don’t have a full concept of the reality of death.
Check out the following tips to better prepare your family to the death of a loved one:
- Spend quality time with your sick loved one, even if you’re just at home, such as cooking the favorite dishes of the family to make their last days worth remembering. Share stories after dinner to remember the good old times.
- Allow your family members to express their thoughts and feelings. Also, seek counseling as necessary to better prepare everyone for the expected loss. A mental health professional can assess and treat different psychological disorders, which avoids symptom attacks.
- Make sure that everyone eats and sleeps well on time and not failing physically, which can be unhealthy and lead to sickness.
- Pray and meditate or grow your spirituality to prepare your soul or inner being. Do it with your sick loved one, too. It provides peace of mind and calmness inside out towards acceptance of the truth.
Conclusion
It’s never easy to prepare for an expected loss of a loved one, whether suffering from a debilitating or terminal illness or will undergo major surgery with the risk of non-survival. Planning would include preparing your loved one’s last will and testament, funeral services, and spending quality time to make the person happy in the last remaining days of his life.