Dealing with Grief and Fears

There are many things I thought I’d be doing at 62 – though one of them was not living to be 62. No, there wasn’t a family illness or a death wish involved; I just couldn’t comprehend, at 30, what I’d be doing at twice that age.

Another Mother’s Day has come and gone. It was filled with both blessings and pain. Mothering is like that. Not too long ago, one of my children was estranged from me. It was not how I envisioned a relationship with an adult child. Even the word “estranged”…

Those of you in your 60s may not think about dying all that much. It feels a long way away – unless you have some life-threatening disease or are closely involved with someone who does.

It’s the kind of thought we easily put away for another…

As we age, we are more exposed to death, loss, grief, and mourning. We feel our losses deeply and we seek some kind of accessible comfort through our tears. Those tears form our river of grief.

Being diagnosed with a disease or condition that could change your life (and those close to you), often sends you on a rollercoaster of emotions. Usually, shock is the first hit along with fear and bewilderment…

I am usually a very reasonable person. I taught mathematics, for heaven’s sake, and that is the most logical science in the world! But I was afraid. It was such an irrational fear that I was embarrassed to admit it…

Many years ago, I was visiting a friend’s house, having just heard that her husband was in his last few days. She was not a close friend, but I knew them both as part of the Quaker community…

Recently, a friend told me about feeling increased anxiety. She had had a kidney transplant over 20 years ago, but, now in her 60s, she finds herself getting very upset with any new physical symptom…

The loss of a mother at a rather early age was very traumatic. At 17, this is the time you need love, guidance and direction about life and you do not know who to trust. So you must learn to trust yourself and your instincts and in your life decisions – good, bad, right or wrong…

I recently poured out my heart to a colleague about my guilt at two condolence notes left unwritten. One note was intended for a colleague whose sister had died, though I’d heard about the death long after the funeral had taken place…