This week marks the fourth and final episode in our February educational series with Gwen Kapcia of grief-guide.com.
In this conversation, Gwen turns our attention toward something many grieving people quietly wonder:
How do I survive this — not just today, but in the long haul?
Grief does not only live in our hearts. It lives in our bodies. It affects our sleep, our thoughts, our relationships, and even our sense of faith. Gwen gently walks us through the idea that we are whole people — physical, mental, social, and spiritual — and that tending to each of those areas helps us widen the range in which we can cope.
When loss first happens, our coping range shrinks. Everything feels closer to the edge — closer to depression, closer to overwhelm. The smallest stress can feel unbearable. But over time, with intentional care, that range can expand again.
Gwen shares practical tools for doing just that:
-
Caring for our bodies through rest and movement
-
Paying attention to the “mental tapes” we play in our minds
-
Choosing life-giving thoughts over automated negative ones
-
Staying connected instead of isolating
-
Feeding our souls, even when faith feels fragile
She reminds us that grief naturally brings fear, anger, guilt, resentment — all the things that tighten our coping range. But gratitude, forgiveness, courage, hope, and trust can slowly stretch it wider again.
This episode is both deeply practical and deeply hopeful. It doesn’t suggest that grief disappears. It doesn’t rush healing. Instead, it offers steady guidance for living with loss in a way that is sustainable.
You may not feel strong right now. You may feel like you are barely holding yourself together.
But perhaps strength, in this season, looks like something quieter:
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Choosing one life-giving thought.
Letting something unimportant wait.
Showing kindness to yourself.
Grief changes us. But with intention and care, it can also deepen us.
Recent Comments