Submitted by Chelsea Moore on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 6:02pm.
Steven,
It must have been hard to lose all of your grandparents in such a small time-frame. I can understand your tendency to block out some of the hurt that this caused you. I think it’s important to express your feelings about death in a way that works best for you. And, it’s just as important for other people to understand and respect the way you choose to manage your emotions. When someone does something that I think is out of the ordinary, I always ask myself what it would be like to be in their shoes. It sounds like you’ve done a good job of managing your feelings about death and are primarily looking for a way to increase your positive emotions during the coping process. Your idea to try the problem-focused coping style sounds like a great place to start (seems to me like it’s already working since you’re already consciously trying to solve a problem.) You might also include some techniques to increase positive emotion in general – perhaps with the Elevator Ride intervention you’ve already discovered some activities that work for you.
Steven,
It must have been hard to lose all of your grandparents in such a small time-frame. I can understand your tendency to block out some of the hurt that this caused you. I think it’s important to express your feelings about death in a way that works best for you. And, it’s just as important for other people to understand and respect the way you choose to manage your emotions. When someone does something that I think is out of the ordinary, I always ask myself what it would be like to be in their shoes. It sounds like you’ve done a good job of managing your feelings about death and are primarily looking for a way to increase your positive emotions during the coping process. Your idea to try the problem-focused coping style sounds like a great place to start (seems to me like it’s already working since you’re already consciously trying to solve a problem.) You might also include some techniques to increase positive emotion in general – perhaps with the Elevator Ride intervention you’ve already discovered some activities that work for you.
Good luck!
~Chelsea