Dr. Tawana Speaks...About Coping With Loss

I can honestly say that I dealt with my share of losing a family member or friend. I can honestly say it was such a hardship to bear. It's not the best feeling to lose someone close to especially someone who has been a part of your life since you  were young. Everyone has different ways of coping to losing someone, sometimes they won't talk about, they will share but they won't share a lot, they cry, they don't think about it or they don't feel nothing at all. There are ways to cope with losing someone, but I will get to that later.

Right now, I want to tell you about the first time I ever went through losing someone. I was a freshmen in college when it happened, It was a Sunday night, and I was doing my homework for my classes when I got a phone call from a elementary/middle school friend of mines (I never transferred after 5th grade, I was literally in the same school from 1st grade to 8th grade so we all were pretty tight.) telling me about his cousin, who I also had classes with and was really cool with, passed away on Saturday Night at a club in Pennsylvania. He was stabbed outside a club after an argument. Here is a link of the original article (http://citizensvoice.com/news/w-b-man-pleads-guilty-in-fatal-stabbing-1.1044823) I still couldn't believe it. Going to the funeral, was even harder because there was classmates I haven't seen it a long time, was a very sad moment. I remember the year before he got killed, I saw him in the summer and we talked he was telling me about how he was coming back to New York and how he wanted to change his life and better himself and when I was about to leave the last thing he told me was "I'll see you later." Those words have forever remember. Our last conversation, is what brings me to tears because he wasn't even make it to his 21st birthday and he was taking from us. I miss him everyday and I know that he is my angel looking after me.

Since the passing of my friend in 2009, I've lost my uncle that same year in September, My godmother in 2010, My aunt in 2012 and two of my grandmothers in the same year in 2012. I cried my eyes out for days when I lost them because they were apart of my life there were there for me when I needed them. I miss them everyday.

Even though I went through this lost in my life, I found ways to cope with them. These are tips on how to cope with your lost.

• All that anger bottling up inside, it's good to write it out in a story, a poem or a song.
• Thinking of the happy times that you shared with that person. Because they are no longer with you, doesn't mean that the memory of them is gone with them.
• Talk to someone close to you, best friends or family members are there for you.
• Sometimes it's good to just, sit in silence.
• Make collages of the memory that you shared with them.

Sometimes there are other ways to cope with losing someone. Just remember, that people might leave this earth, but your memory with that person will never go away. Their love and care will always be apart of you no matter what. They are now your angels watching over you, you know they will always be there for you no matter what they will always be there.

Until Next Time,