A beautiful weekend with my oldest son getting married ended in the news of a local young man losing his life in a skiing accident. The elation of the weekend screeched to a halt to feel the deep grief that only comes from losing such a wonderful person. Pure light and love, Jack had so many friends and lit up the room when he entered. We will all deeply miss him.
I wasn’t prepared for the role my Health workshop would play in the grieving process our entire community was feeling. Almost every participant showed up to the workshop. The workshop provided the space to fully express themselves. I had planned to chat about travel and special occasions but quickly had to pivot to consider how difficult this health thing is when we are grieving. Naturally, we want to reach for comfort foods or worse, drinks, or for some of us, we have no appetite. I realized in the midst of the workshop, what we need to do during a deep grieving process is to take the time to take care of ourselves by making better food choices, and exercising or getting out in nature. In general, you can’t care for anyone else unless you are caring for yourself. It is so important to be able to hold space for those who need it and if we are depleted, we simply can’t be there for them. We must fill our cups with LOVE for ourselves and this includes continuing to make healthy choices. Only then can we show up in LOVE for those in our lives that depend on us. I suggested they curate their days with time carved out for self-care, preparing healthy foods, and exercise. All of this is curating in the name of LOVE. And then, we can give of ourselves.
