How to Pick Yourself Up

I know from my own experience of being widowed twice, the yearning sense of loss, the bitterness, the anger, and the railing against Fate which has visited this tragedy upon us -- and in my case, not once, but twice. I know also from both my sister and my brother, that though the divorced suffer the same experience of loss, it is easier to lose a loved one through death, than through divorce. But I know that with time things improve. It isn't that one ever "gets over" a bereavement or a divorce. Of course not. The memory, and the heart-ache continue. But with time one becomes acclimatised to the loss. It is possible to see beauty again in a sunset, or in a garden, or by the sea. And one begins to realise that life goes on, and that there are things to be done to help those others in our family, who have also been left behind, and who are grieving as well. That is the time to try to "pick yourself up", so that one can be there for all those other dear members of one's family, who have also suffered this loss. After that, I have found, that the healing starts to happen, and hope starts to return.