My Nephew shot himself last week saturday. I’ve been a nervous wreck ever since. The sister and I are very close and I feel guilty I haven’t been there for her. I do not know wether she is faking it, but she appears to be coping better than me and she is only 22.
I think it’s easier to deal with the death of a loved one as a religious person than an atheist. To them no one really dies. They either are in a better place or come back as something else. I think it’s a comforting thought that one day you’ll see them again.
To an atheist death is final. There’s a finality to death that even I as an atheist I find disconcerting and for the first time I honestly wish that I believed in some sort of an Afterlife.
Pole sana. Death is hard for everyone, believer or non-believer.
Just because you’re an atheist and can’t say all those afterlife things doesn’t mean you can’t talk to family and process the grief. Talk to people.
This gets me too. Even for distant relatives that moment when soil is brought back over the casket and I know that’s FINAL.
The older you are the more it gets you because you know in reality what has happened.
Time is the greatest healer.
You can’t wish it away that it has happened.
But time has a way of lessening the pain.
After a week, a month, a year or two most pain will be gone and you will be left with only fleeting memories of the departed.
Closest relatives I ever lost are my mum’s foster parents, my grandparents, I was little, I do not that per say I wouldn’t know what to tell you I pray that I won’t have to feel that pain anytime soon
I cope by blocking it. I lost a close uncle to cancer and I am the one that used to drive him to m.p. Shah for chemo and radiotherapy. Basically I spent all his last days with him. When he passed away I was very shocked I could not even remove his blue shirt from one of the rooms in the house that I had made to be his whenever he would come to watch a game jus to distract his mind from the disease. But I blocked his death from my mind and the gravity of the situation only hit me after his casket was lowered. But my sz was most affected even though they were not close. I believe people cope diffetently to such situations.
Pole for the loss… You are experiencing a part of the 5 stages of grief. Time, talking about it and support go a long way in trying to heal… Hang in there but dont forget to hold the sisters hand.
Alafu you need to believe that death isn’t final. Because no one knows it yet. Do you know how you came into being? You can be a nonbeliever but still believe in a higher hope a higher being. Just not man made religions
Sorry for your loss @Akeelah. To be honest, suicide is the toughest thing that family members and friends can deal with, Christian/Atheist. I would say it is even tougher for a christian since there isn’t that assurance that the person is at a better place. What I think is that his sister is not mourning properly, she is suppressing it and you know that has it’s effects in the long run.
Personal I have never lost anyone from my nuclear family. I don’t react to death not because I don’t attend funerals .I assume someone travel abroad and one day he or she will come back. I have attended only one funeral in my entire life and I dream about the lady who passed on occasionally.
I know diff people react differently to situations. Suppressing the grief only lasts for so long before the full impact is felt. Accepting what has happened is the beginning of the healing process. All the best sweetheart.