How to Grieve

and you’ll push so many people away. You will feel so misunderstood and different that it’ll be so overwhelming. Especially, when you feel stressed with schoolwork it’ll trigger your grief. You will then push yourself to race through these stages, but you must be patient and feel all the emotions.

You will then feel like you will do anything to get rid of the pain. You may find yourself getting overly committed to school trying to do anything to fill your time, so it won’t hurt so bad. Others even choose to involve themselves in negative activities like drugs and drinking to feel better in the moment, but this will not change the fact they are gone or calm your anxiety. You’ll hide from the pain and convince yourself you are not in pain because you’ll feel shame. Shame creeps up because you know they are watching over you and want the best for you. You find out, in reality, you’re hurting yourself or making you numb to your feelings.

Then depression will hit. Getting up for school will be so damn hard and it will trigger so many memories, like looking forward to coming home to your mother but she’s gone. Life will seem black and white. Your stubbornness will take over and you’ll think you don’t need help or that therapy is uncomfortable. Grief is such a personal feeling and can be unexplainable. For example, when you’re dissociating in fear because you don’t feel safe in the environment you’re in or even safe in your own body, you won’t know how to explain that. Though, not everyone experiences depression. There are a lot of people that are emotionally disconnected. Some people that have experienced grief aren’t always close to the loved one, but they still feel sadness. You don’t have to be super close to the individual to grieve.

“I’m not mourning because it’s been years,” teacher Jeramiah Cox said, but he still feels sadness. No matter how old or how young you are grief will still hurt. Everyone’s grief is different, and everyone grieves differently but that’s okay because it’s completely normal. The most certain thing in life, is death. You come into this world to grow, learn, reproduce, etc, and at the end, you pass to the other side. It’s unfortunate how this world works and all you can do is keep going. Also being in high school doesn’t make it any easier trying to mourn a loved one because you have lost your identity and searching for a new purpose but how can you if you are just a kid. Accepting the loss is the hardest part and accepting the things we can’t control. You will feel so disconnected from the world, from your friends and family but you will survive. You will breathe clearly again. You will move forward and be happy with your life. You will wish and be disappointed. It won’t be easy; the pain will never go away but grief does not define you. Accepting does not mean you forgot, it means you accept you have no choice but to keep living. Find ways to honor your loved one and keep them alive. I have listed these steps, but I guarantee you will not experience it in this order. Grief is messy and everyone experiences it differently. Remember to feel and breathe and don’t do it alone. Find people you trust and find therapy services. “You grieve at the same level you love,” counselor Ryan Bracken said.

Why should you be mindful of your surroundings?

In the United States, around 262,215 children under the age 18 get kidnapped every year. That’s around 750 children per day. Whether it be the middle of the day or the dead of night, you are at risk of being kidnapped, boy or girl.

In 2022, 19 percent of children (ages one through 18) die as a result of gun violence. It used to be three out of 10,000 kids per year but, the rise of gun violence started it 2014 and is still rising today.

Knowing your surroundings can help prevent you from becoming one of the 750 kids or 19 percent.

What you should be looking out for?

Fights and drug deals are some of the main issues. Lots of students are eager when it comes to recording fights and share them thinking it would be cool, but their actions can lead to consequences. If young kids experiment with drugs and alcohol, these types of things can go south very fast. People could get hurt or worse. “Don’t do it and move away from the area because you can put you and your friends at risk,” Campus

monitor Sabrina Douglas.