Patience is not simply the ability to wait–it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.
-Joyce Meyer
Self-isolation and social distancing require a great deal of patience. We have to wait out the run of a highly communicable virus. We have to wait out a difficult economic situation. We have to wait out loneliness. If we’re grieving, we have to wait out the chance to grieve communally and receive comfort for our loss.
While we cannot change either our loss or our social situation, we can transform our experience of loss and isolation by using this time (however long that is) to work on our relationship with grief. We can slowly come to terms with our emotions, with the loss or the diagnosis that may lead to loss, with the reality of a new life without our loved one. We can reflect on our time together, both the good and the bad. We can call friends and family and seek comfort in the voices of those closest to us. We can seek out healthy coping mechanisms and reach out if we need more help to cope.
The journey we take while practicing patience during grief may be the most difficult part of the experience. Anyone can wait for something; how we use the time matters.
A.N.Carroll 