“Mourning the Imagined” – anticipatory grief (Caregiver Space)

This recent post from “The Caregiver Space” is about anticipatory grief. Here’s the key excerpt:

“When you love someone, you have dreams for them even though you don’t realize it. And when a caregiving journey begins, particularly for someone with a long term or incurable illness, those dreams die. And you can experience a very real sense of grief and mourning, even though the person is still alive. You mourn the imagined life, the one in which things take a “natural” course and allow you to plan our your life. You mourn the loss of that person’s contributions to the family, whether it be a special recipe, or wise counsel, or them simply being the backbone of the family unit. You’re forced to let go of how things are supposed to be, and live for the moment.”

Here’s a link to the full blog post:

thecaregiverspace.org/mourning-the-imagined/

Mourning the Imagined
by D. Southern

The Caregiver Space
July 24, 2017

Robin