Hey Guys.. Today's post is a little more on the sadder side as you can probably see from the title. Today (26th October) is the 6 month anniversary for my grandfather and I just wanted to make a post to acknowledge that as I miss him terribly. So in this post I talk about my experiences of losing loved ones and how I have learned to cope with it.

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When you enter your teen years if you are lucky enough to have all four grandparents in your life that's great but it is inevitable that sometime within the next 10-20 years you will lose them. Four years ago I lost one of my grandfathers and I found it really difficult to come to terms with it because I was only 14 years old. I was confused and didn't know if I should try talk to my mom about it (it was her father) because I didn't want to upset her more, so in the end I kept all my feelings to myself and I never really spoke about it with anyone. I used to pray a lot to my grandfather as my guardian angel so I still felt a big connection to him but I understand that not everyone is religious, what I also found helpful to me was actually writing letters addressed to him, obviously I wouldn't send them, but it was a way for me to still be connected with him and let him know what's happening in my life.

Earlier this year my dads father passed away during a time where I had important exams so I also couldn't focus on grieving his loss so now I am still left with all these feelings that I can't talk about now because everyone else around me has already had the time to come to terms with the loss. But these are my issues that I have to deal with in due time, I'm lucky to have a large family and support group that I know I can trust in if I ever feel the need to talk about how I'm coping.

Unfortunately not everyone has a large support group like that so that's why I'm here. If you ever need to talk about how you're coping with the loss of a loved one don't hesitate to contact me. I'm your right hand woman if you ever want a chat.

Things that helped me cope are:
1) Writing the letters just to let them know what's going on.
2) Writing down all of my feelings and what exactly made me feel that way.
3) Praying helped me or even just having a quiet one sided conversation with them if you're not religious.
4) Talking to my friends I could trust helped me because I felt I would be upsetting my family by talking about it with them.
5) Remembering all of the good times you had together, all the silly jokes or anything that reminds you of that person.
6) Visiting their place of rest helped me because I feel as though I am with them, I know it can be a bit eerie visiting places like graveyards but to me there is an element of the spirit and soul of the person being there and recently i have been visiting my dad's father's grave a lot as my university is close to it and I feel as though I can remember him more by being there.
7) Meditation, if you are feeling overwhelmed but various emotions talk 10-15 mins to yourself lie down on the floor and breathe and relax try to let any thoughts just drift out of your mind and let your emotions go.

I hope this post is helpful to you guys and if you are going through a difficult time like this and want more specific advice please leave a comment below or tweet me @NiamhSecretLife 


*Disclamer* some of you may think that this content is familiar and I would just like to say that it is taken of the blog "gilrychattime".. Not to panic! That blog was the one I had set up before this one so there is no breach of any copyright regulations. I own the girlychattime blog but do not use it anymore as I feel this one is more personal and has proven to be more successful. If you don't believe me that that blog is mine please don't hesitate to ask me for proof. I will be more than willing to give it to you as I'm telling the truth.