This Helped Others. Thought It Might Help You This Holiday Season ❤️.
Helpful for Holidays
Grief, What It Is, & How To Heal ❤️ It
Dear Friend,
I posted this on SM.
It resonated with others, so I thought I’d share it with you, as it might help this holiday season ❤️….
…I’ve been known to be a melancholy fellow…
In the picture, I think I look happy, and I am, spending the weekend celebrating my daughter’s birthday at Woodloch Resort, in between presenting to guests on the topics of motivation and wellness, the irony not lost on me as I share the following.
When the pictures are done, the phone put down, alone in my room, I can feel the presence of something familiar, of something lost, missing, a verging on pain.
I now know what that is- Grief; a process that comes with a set of emotions and feelings related to loss.
The details of the loss are personal, but the lesson is universal, and thus I share.
Grief is an old friend, encountered first in my childhood basement (the result of family trauma, abandonment, addiction, abuse, and finally suicide), then again writing my memoir, 50 years later.
From my memoir, “Unexpressed grief can masquerade as depression, making one feel alone in a crowded room, and hopeless. That feels familiar.”
For me, it’s first observed as a distant cluster of clouds, a coming storm, eventually arriving overhead, then within.
With it come the emotions- sadness, anger, numbness, confusion, profound loss- add your own.
So what?
Too often I see influencers (whatever that means, not counting myself as one) posting the highs, leaving me thinking they have no lows, “What’s wrong with me then?”
And so I’m compelled to share, if you’re feeling any of these emotions, especially when you think you should be happy, it might be grief.
They say grief comes when it wants, then goes when it’s ready. My job is to acknowledge it, experience the emotions, allowing them room to heal, then back to the business of living my life with those I love, doing what I love, including writing this letter for you.
Why is it so important to allow oneself to experience grief?
Again, from memoir, “I learned I had to sit with these emotions, otherwise I was numbing my life, in essence, missing it.”
Also…
We now know suppressed emotions can create inflammation which is the cause of disease and pain- cancer, heart, disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s, ALS, autoimmune and so on. Another reason I feel compelled to share this with you.
For me, a good therapist, 12 step work, like-minded friends, and time helped me experience, then heal my grief, an ongoing process.
I’ll end now because I’m running out of writing space, not heart space
The love is everlasting, the door eternally open.
I wish you and your family, a happy, healthy, fun, low stress, and delicious holiday season ❤️.
All My Best,
Peter
Peter Kofitsas MS, PT
Peter Kofitsas MS, PT is a sought after Motivational Leadership & Wellness Speaker, Life & Health Coach, Author, Nutritionist, Physical Therapist, Food/Restaurant Consultant, and former Scholarship Football Athlete. He’s also been called, “The Missing Link” in employee wellbeing working with companies including Goldman Sachs as well as school districts. As an expert for the media, he has appeared on ABC, FOX, MSN, TLC, and in Fitness magazine. He’s the author of 3 books, including, Shop, Cook, Eat. He’s also the creator of the 5 Minutes to Fitness+ Program, a revolutionary lifestyle program for achieving optimal health which has been featured on QVC and FOX. He’’s been helping individuals, companies, and school districts assist their employees in being their best selves, tapping into their full potential, and finding fulfillment in what can be a challenging world.
Clients
