Losing a loved one is never an easy thing to go through and, no matter what you experience, is going to be a process. In this process, it is important to find ways to allow yourself to express your feelings and find time to truly accept them. Losing a loved one may lead to anger, depression, and eventual acceptance, but through every stage of grief, you’ll want to find tasteful ways to remember your loved ones. In this piece, we’ll look at six ways you can easily keep their memory alive.
1. Memorialize Your Loved One’s Ashes
A way to feel as if your loved one is close to you at all times may be to have some sort of display in their remembrance in your home. Should you choose to cremate your loved one, you may want to wear some of their ashes in a trinket around your neck or on your wrist. Or, you may opt for a customized urn that can encompass their spirit. Customizable urns can show what your loved one looked like, their favorite hobbies, sayings that remind you of them, and more. These urns can be a simple reminder that your loved one is always with you, no matter where you are.
2. Their Jewelry and Trinkets
Losing a loved one may lead to incredible grief and sadness right away, but can take days and even years for you to truly feel the effects of your delayed grief. This is why having a memento of your loved one that you can keep on your person at all times may come in handy in those moments when you want to feel close to them. Wearing their jewelry or keeping a favorite trinket of theirs with you can help you to express your emotions and feel your loved one’s presence when you need to do so.
3. Craft a Nice Headstone
In the moment, finding the right headstone may be the last thing you want to deal with, but down the line, you’ll want to visit their grave site or place of memoriam and will want a headstone that represents your love. There are some important things to consider when choosing a headstone including who your loved one truly was, how you felt about them, and what you want the world to see when they read their headstone. You’ll also want to consider the materials it’s made of and how well it will endure the elements.
4. Experience Them Through The Memorial
The memorial and funeral of your loved one is going to be a hard time. These are some of the most emotional moments anyone will experience. During this time of grief, friends and family may send funeral flowers and bring over food to keep you and your immediate family going and offer any support they can. While these may seem like small gestures, these gestures are their ways of showing they care and you’ll be grateful for them in the future. During the memorial service or funeral, allow yourself to think about your loved one with sadness, happiness, joy, and any emotion that makes sense in the moment. This way you can begin to process how you truly feel, especially during grief.
5. Dedicate a Space in Your Home to Your Loved One
Allowing yourself to have a space in your home that’s dedicated to your lost loved one may seem a little daunting, but can be the ideal spot for you to process how you feel. You need to grieve and having a visual reminder of your loved one along with some of their favorite items can help you do just that. Feeling your important feelings can help you progress through the grieving process and find peace on the other side.
6. Take a Trip
If you and your loved one always had a place you wanted to visit, but didn’t get to travel to, take some time and go there. Travel to the ends of the earth to feel close to them and experience things you wish you had with them. This may be a way for you to get away from the hustle and bustle of regular life and deal with your emotions on your own time and in your own way. These vacations can be cathartic and healing and give you the space you need to process your grief.
You Can Grieve
Sometimes, allowing yourself to grieve and take time away from your normally-expected schedule and requirements seems selfish. But, after the loss of a loved one, this is a critical time that you must allow yourself to process and deal with so you don’t struggle even more down the line. Feel however you need to feel and allow yourself to process for as long as you need before returning to anything “normal.”
