How To Cope With Tragedy: Tips For Moving Forward

It’s hard to know what to say when something tragic happens. You may feel like hiding or falling into silence. It’s important to remember that you are not alone in this. There are others who are feeling just as lost and confused. Take the time to mourn and process your feelings, but don’t stay in that space for too long. Eventually, you will need to start moving forward again. Here are some tips on how to cope with tragedy and begin the healing process.

Disclaimer: There is no right or wrong way to go through a tragedy. Neuroscience has not come up with an answer nor has philosophy or psychology.

Feeling hurt, sad, angry are all okay reactions to tragedy.

However, we can shape our mindset to find positives in tragedy, that allow us to propel ourselves forward, and allow us to have a new look at our lives as a whole.

So here are a few tips on how you can begin to move forward after a tragedy.

Do Not Hide Or Fall Into Silence:

It can be tempting to bury yourself in your home and avoid any kind of social interaction. However, this is not healthy. It’s important to talk about what happened with people who will understand and support you. Sharing your experiences with others helps to normalize them and makes them less frightening. You may also find comfort in writing about what happened. This can be a way to express your feelings and work through them.

Define The Meaning Of What Happened:

When something tragic happens, it’s natural to try and make sense of it. You may ask yourself why this happened to me? or What did I do wrong? It’s important to remember that there is no easy answer. You may never fully understand why something bad happened. However, you can try and define the meaning of what happened for yourself. This can be a way to find some control in an uncontrollable situation.

It can be easy at this point to slip into a negative thought process, and look at life through a bleak negative lens, but try as hard as it is to find a positive in your circumstances.

When we lose someone, we can focus on the loss or in the case of a death focus on a celebrated life.

In the case of a partner leaving us, we can choose to focus on the loss in our life, or that we have now a chance to grow and reshape our thinking, our purpose, our meaning.

By looking at the positive, you can begin the healing process sooner. You can reintegrate with society quicker, and you can come out of your slump easier.

Keep Your Perspective:

It’s easy to get lost in your feelings when something tragic happens. However, it’s important to remember that this is just one part of your life. There are other things going on as well. Try and keep your perspective balanced. Don’t let the tragedy consume you completely.

Everyone on this planet will go through tragedy, death is a certainty in this life, as it has been since life started on this planet. We have to as hard as it is remember this point.

We are allowed to feel sad, cry, feel angry at the world, but we have to keep in mind that everyone will or has been through this, and now whilst we are sad we must continue to live and love.

Don’t let one life ending also end a second in yours!

Keep A Vision Of The Future:

It’s hard to think about the future when something tragic has happened. However, it’s important to have some kind of plan for the future. This can be a way to hold onto hope. You don’t need to know exactly what you want to do, but having a general idea is helpful. Thinking about the future can help you feel more in control and give you something to look forward to.

Your future is important, and it is in these times of tragedy that we can begin to re-program our lives and rethink our futures, to make a more positive impact.