The grief, fear and anxiety that sprouted from the mass shooting in the Connecticut elementary school may not subside anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean you have to put your life or the life of your anxious child on hold. You can even go as far as to dare to be happy!
Those tidbits of advice come from Nancy Berns, Ph.D., an associate professor of sociality at Drake University and author of an awesome essay in Psychology Today. The essay earns awesome status because it reminds all of us that emotions can co-exist and you and your anxious child don’t have to put everything on hold just because you may still be stunned about a tragedy.
Berns writes:
“Even while remembering tragedy and grief, we can continue to live our lives. We can carry joy and grief together. If we think that we can experience only one emotion at a time, we may do what we can to avoid others’ pain and grief in an effort to find happiness. Discovering that we can still find joy in the midst of suffering not only helps with our own healing, but makes it more likely that we are willing to enter other people’s pain.”
And that’s just one point she so clearly makes in the piece, several others are equally as hard-hitting and equally as true.
Check out her full essay, entitled “What I Learn from Fear and Death:” http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-grieve/201212/what-i-learn-fear-and-death
