Grief Tip

I’m back again with another tip leading into the major winter holidays while navigating your mourning...taken from Dr. Alan Wolfelt’s “Healing Your Holiday Grief”

WEAR BLACK: • In Victorian times, part of the ritual of mourning dictated that mourners should wear black for certain periods of time to publicly indicate their grief. Widows, for example, were expected to dress completely in black for a period of at least one year. After that, touches of gray, mauve, and purple could be added to the otherwise black attire. • While the Victorian mourning dress codes were overly rigid (as well as demeaning to women), they did serve a noble purpose of displaying one’s internal grief externally. That is, they were a form of mourning-and mourning, as we know, helps us heal. • This holiday season, consider wearing black to gatherings. The color is still a subtle reminder to others that you are in mourning and need their love and support. • If you don’t like to dress in black, that’s OK. Maybe you could wear a black armband or a black tie or scarf to symbolize your grief. Or wear an article of clothing that belonged to the person who died.