How to cope with grief and loss onboard

According to the club:

Loss is an inevitable, fundamental truth of life that bonds people together. Grief is the emotional suffering we experience when we lose someone or something valuable to us.

Stages of Grief

Stage 1: Denial. “This is not happening to me.”
Stage 2: Anger. “Why is this happening to me? Who is to blame?”
Stage 3: Bargaining: “I will do anything to change this”.
Stage 4: Depression. “What is the point of living after the loss?”
Stage 5: Acceptance. “It is going to be okay”. Healing begins.
Stage 6: “Finding meaning,” is integrating the loss and moving through life by finding “your own meaning to the loss”.

Among others, the sympotms and signs of grief include:

1.  Intense sorrow, pain, and rumination of the loss
2. Preoccupation with the deceased and the circumstances of the death
3. Persistent longing or yearning for the deceased
4. Difficulty associating positive memoriesof the deceased
5. Detachment and isolation from family and friends
6. Reduced sense of identity
7. Feeling that life is meaningless – Lack of desire to pursue personal interests

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In an effort to copy with loss and help you work through your grief and your healing journey, UK P&I club recommends to always keep in mind:

• Be kind to yourself
• Remind yourself that grief is a natural response to loss
• Don’t judge your loss – any loss can trigger grief
• Grief can trigger a wide variety of emotions
• Grief is a personal process – we grieve in our own unique ways
• Don’t feel guilty if you cannot cry
• Grief is a gradual process – there is no specific time frame attached to grieving
• Grief is not a linear process – often experienced in waves or cycles
• There is not “one right way to grieve” and no ‘quick fixes’
• Accept your pain, it is ok to cry, to hurt, to be angry etc.
• Do not judge or avoid your emotions
• People may experience a wide range of emotions during the process of grieving
• Connect with family and friends who can support you
• Find comfort in your faith
• Take care of your physical needs by eating healthy, sleeping properly, and resting sufficiently
• Be patient – there is no specific time frame to grieving
• Accepting your loss does not mean forgetting, it means integrating the loss and moving on in life

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