Seven Choices: Finding Daylight After Loss Shatters Your World

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By Amalie Clausen, MSSA, LSW
Hi Kids!
Winter is a great time for sledding, snowmen, snow forts,
and ice skating. However, it’s also cold outside, and the
sun doesn’t stay up for very long. In fact, winter starts on
the shortest day of the year. You are likely to get up for
school when it’s dark outside, and you go to bed when it’s
dark. As winter moves along and spring gets closer adults
may say, “Now the days are getting longer,” but it doesn’t
seem like they are. It’s hard to notice the sun shining
longer when your toes are freezing.
Grief can be like the days of winter. You may feel sad,
angry, or mixed up more than you used to before your
special person died. People may have told you that you’ll
start feeling better, but when you feel bad, it’s difficult to
think it will ever happen. It’s not always easy to remember
Here’s a list of different feelings that
you may experience when a loved one
dies. Find the words in the search.
When you’ve found them all, you can
draw a picture of your special person.
SAD
HAPPY
WORRIED
RELIEVED
LONELY
SCARED
GUILTY
NUMB
SPACED OUT
HURT
TIRED
SILLY
ASHAMED
SHOCKED
SHY
CONFUSED
ANGRY
what happy times feel like, just as it’s not always easy
to remember how hot, summer days feel when it’s 20
degrees outside.
Just like the weather, there will be good days and bad days.
We’ll have days when we want to play with our friends, and
we’ll have days that are hard and we want to be alone.
Eventually, we’ll have more good days than bad days. In
the meantime, do things on those bad days that will help
you feel better—ask for a hug, play with friends, look at
pictures, draw or paint your own pictures, watch a favorite
movie, or whatever works for you.
Take care,
Amalie
A S H A M E D S S E D
A Q I S K A L P I A N
Y S H Y O N W A S C V
W P J E D G G C D F G
H M W O R R I E D A C
G U I L T Y Q D H U O
R O R T A Z T O A D N
E L X T V L I U P E F
L O Y L A D R T P O U
I S H O C K E D Y T S
E I M N S R D N S P E
V L Q E P F R C U A D
E L P L V B W H L M E
D Y O Y S C A R E D B
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