HUG Corner: Thought for the Week 8/5/19

Healing After Loss (Martha Whitmore Hickman)

“We cannot do everything at once but we can do something at once.”

-Calvin Coolidge

When we are grieving we are often best by a kind of lassitude. We feel flattened, devoid of energy. It’s all we can do to get through the day and fall into bed hoping for the oblivion of sleep.

It’s fine to take some time to rest, to let the wells of energy and resolve begin to fill up again. But what if, many months later, we are still dragging, still lethargic?

It is important to know what is going on. Barring illness (which we should always check for – people who are grieving have a disproportionate chance of getting sick), perhaps our lethargy is a form of denial: if I don’t move maybe it won’t be so.

It is hard to shake loose of such a feeling. But we can, by starting with one thing. Buying some seeds to plant a garden. Baking bread. Visiting a neighbor. Anything to break the logjam of inactivity. It may seem as fateful as that first “giant step” out of the capsule and into space.

I cannot bear to look down the long road of years without my loved one. But I don’t have to. I have today. And I will, today, do one new thing.